Double-Cross

2

I boarded the plane, as if I was in a daze.
Once I was sitting in my seat I pulled the card out again, and read it over and over.
"Sir," a flight attendant stood over me trying to get my attention.
"Yes ma'am, sorry I was lost in my thoughts," I quickly snapped out of my daze.
"Are you Colton Beckett?" She asked.
"Yes ma'am, how can I help you?"
"Well sir you've been upgraded. I just got a call from the front desk, saying there was a last minute upgrade."
"Oh, ok." I stood and followed her to the front of the plane, the first class cabin.
"Here you are, enjoy the flight." She walked away once I was seated.
That was weird. I wonder how this happened. Maybe it was that Henry guy trying to convince me.....
I settled into the seat and relaxed, and before long I was asleep.
I woke up suddenly to the sound of alarms.
"Attention passengers, please remain calm and remain in your seats, we are going to land this plane in a field. Please put up all tray tables and put your seat backs in the upright position. Now!" The flight attendant commanded over the intercom.
I followed instructions and threw up the window shade.
The plane was barreling toward the ground.
"Does anyone know how to fly a plane? Please come to the front as soon as possible!" The flight attendant had fear in her voice.
I unbuckled my seat belt and hurried to the front of the plane.
"What do you need me to do?" I asked her.
"Get in there and help the captain. The co-captain is unconscious," she ordered me, skeptically.
I opened the cockpit door, grabbed the unconscious co-captain's body, and  threw it out of the seat.
"Let's do this," I said. "What do you need me to do?"
"You're like twenty how the hell do you know how to fly a plane?" The pilot asked.
"Long story, come on. Do you want to die today?"
"No."
"Then let's get to work."
We worked as a team to land the plane as smoothly as possible.
"Attention passengers, this is your captain speaking. We have regained control of the plane, and are going to land as smoothly and safely as possible, but it will be a bumpy ride so please stay seated." The captain called over the intercom. "Brace yourselves for impact! Heads against your seat arms over your head. Hold on to all small children if possible."
The plane dove straight into the field and everything went black.
When I woke up, the plane was on the ground and I was still in the co-pilot's seat. I must've only blacked out for a second.
I unbuckled my seatbelt and jumped up and forced open the cockpit door to the cabin. There were suitcases everywhere. Babies were crying. Kids were crying. Adults were crying. Everyone on the whole damn plane was crying, everyone except me.
I grabbed the intercom mic from the wall. "If you are able to please, unbuckle your seat belt, but stay seated. I will be coming through the cabins to help all I can. More help should be on the way, we already radioed in. If you or anyone near you is seriously injured please raise your hand, I will come to you first."
Only two hands were raised, so I raced through the rubble to them. There was a man with a clearly broken leg, so I used someone's hairbrush, and t-shirts to set it. "That should work until the medics get here."
"Thank you so much," the man said through the pain.
I hurried to the second. A kid about 8 was bleeding from his arm pretty bad.
"Hey buddy, what's your name?" I asked as I started tying loose clothes to his arm.
"Quinn," he said.
"Are you flying with anyone?" I asked.
"No, I'm flying home from my grandparents."
"Well buddy, we're going to get your arm all bandaged so you can go home soon ok."
He nodded, smiling a little.
I turned to the woman next to him, "ma'am please keep an eye on his arm, and if you start to see blood coming through the shirts, tie a new one around it."
She nodded and told me to go help others.
I pushed through the rubble to the emergency exits and started forcing the doors open before heading back to the front of the plane.
"Ok everyone. Please CALMLY exit through the nearest door if you are able. If you are able to help those in need get out please do. If you need assistance please raise your hand and we will get you help as soon as we can. DO NOT worry about your stuff, it's just stuff and the lives around you mean so much more!"
I went back to the cockpit to see if either pilot or the 3 flight attendants had regained consciousness yet.
I pulled them out of the plane, one at a time, and headed back in to save more people.
I heard sirens start in the distance and I had to pull out as many people as I could.
"Hey! Kid!" Four men called at me. " How can we help?"
"Help me get the rest of the people out of the plane!" I called to them.
Together the five of us pulled the unconscious and injured out of the plane.
I searched through the plane for a flight list. Once I found it I started going around and looking for each person.
I checked off my own name when no one was looking. I had to keep my identity private.
I was working with a few others to bandage as many as we could when the ambulances and fire trucks pulled up.
I joined the large group of people who only had minor injuries for a quick check by paramedics for more damage.
My shirt was soaked with sweat, my jeans were torn and red with blood stains, my leather jacket had gone missing while I was helping people, and my high tops were covered in mud.
Once I was cleared I went back over to check on the pilot.
"Hey kid, what's your name?" He asked. "I want to properly thank you."
"My name is Colton, but if you make a statement to the press, please don't mention my name,  I don't want attention," I said.
"Of course, Colton, thank you so much for your help."
I walked away to check on Quinn, the kid with the arm injury.
"Hey Quinn, buddy how's your arm?" I asked sitting next to him on the edge of the ambulance.
"Well it's ok. Thanks to you they won't have to amputate it. You stopped the bleeding!" He said, then gave me a big hug.
"That's great news buddy, I'm gonna go check on the other people now, maybe I'll stop by again," I said before I walked away.
After a few more minutes of walking around, one of the men who had helped me pull people out of the plane walked over.
"Kid, you need to sit down and relax, you've done enough, take a break," he said.
I nodded and sat down right where I was.
Everything I did that day was on a complete impulse. I didn't think, I just reacted, kind of like I did when I put the card in my pocket.  Thinking about the card for the first time in hours, I reached into the pocket of my jeans and found the card. It was soaked through and torn, but I could still read the phone number, and memorized it before ripping the card and closing my eyes.