Airborne

Chapter 13 - Suspicion

"You killed him!" Warit gasped in disbelief, pointing at Rachel as she lowered her rifle, the barrel still smoking.

"He was infected!"Rachel shrieked in retaliation, the other passengers around her remained frozen, unsure in what to do. "He was going to fucking kill us all!" she cried out. Jack also stood still, tucking Aiden behind him so he wouldn't have to see Stephen's body, the limbs still twitching, causing two women sitting in the seats in front shuddering.

"B-but we could have helped him." Justin stammered, following the flight attendant assisting Stephen wailing as she brushed off chunks of his brain and skull off her kebaya. The plane then lurched into motion, causing people to stumble where they stood.

"There is no helping him, he would've been killing people by now!" Rachel retorted, her face going crimson. She continued to defend herself, yet glanced at her weapon as if she wanted to throw it onto the floor.

"T-they must be infected too!" A man cried out, pointing a trembling finger at Jack and Aiden. "Look at all the blood!" He shrieked in despair.

"N-no, w-we aren't!" Erika stammered, trying to wipe off the infected blood stained on her skin.

"Throw them behind the wall!" A woman cried out, the phrase being echoed throughout the cabin as several people joined in as the plane sped up to take off. Strangely enough, the infected weren't being attracted to this unnecessary scene currently unfolding.

"Grab them!" People shouted as they charged towards the six students, trying to restrain them before they 'turned'.  The flight attendants  began pushing the enraged passengers back, asking them sternly to return to their seats, although that wasn't working effectively. Once again Jack's selfish instincts kicked in and he made a run for it, pulling Aiden along by the hand into the nearest lavatory.

"W-what about the others?" Aiden stammered as Jack glanced back, the crowd had overrun the flight attendants and were dragging Erica and Warit into the mass and swallowing them up, Warit was sobbing as he clung onto the carpeted floor, his fingers bleeding. Jack was haunted by their sobs and begs for mercy, as he heard multiple blows landing on them.

"Grab the kid!" A woman shrieked, which snapped him back to his own survival as arms wrapped around him and Aiden, dragging both of them from the lavatory.

"Hey!" Jack screamed as he wrestled from the grasp of the passengers, headbutting one strong, middle aged man with a solid grip on his gut to finally break free. He grabbed hold of Aiden's shoulders as he scooted back on his behind into the lavatory, Jack's arms went numb, with cobalt blood vessels bulging from his skin from his attempts to pull his brother out of the mob of groping hands, tugging at his pants and tearing off his shoes. He kicked the many faces of passengers that were twisted with hate, stomping the fingers that curled around his brother's legs, trying to take him away again. Jack wailed with each crack and a cry of pain he heard from the bottom of his shoes.

"Get back! Get the fuck back!" Ronald shouted, now with a black eye as he pointed his gun at the crowd. Causing the terrified crowd to get back, finally letting go of Aiden, who immediately went into the open arms of Jack, he glanced at his now blistered hands, they bled in the palms and had only added to the numerous stains on Aiden's shirt as he hugged him tightly, as Ronald forced the crowd of terrified passengers back into the 2nd cabin. Leaving on the floor the wounded victims, Erika, Warit and the flight attendants laid on the floor cuts and bruises covering their body.

"You'll get us all killed!" A man shouted from the crowd, as Amy rushed to help Erika and Warit. Erika had two black eyes and Warit was moaning and clutching his ribs.

"You wankers are no better than the zombies! The fuck is wrong with you?" Ronald jeered back before being interrupted as a man stepped out of the morbid crowd. He wore a white suit and blue dress shirt, speckled with blood and black pus.

"Lets not all go fucking crazy, okay?" He announced to the passengers, seemingly soothing the tension as he charismatically strided over to Rachel and snagged the rifle from her before she could say anything, she did nothing, appearing to already regret her actions.

The man approached Jack and the other students, he seemed to scan them like a computer, searching for emotions and body language, Jack turned and noticed tears streaming down David's cheeks, the tears going red from the blood on his face.

Without warning, he took David by the shoulders and pushed him in front of Jack so everyone could see him.

"What is everyone so afraid of?!" He said with a smile, pointing at David's tear streaked face. "These are only children, you'd think they were an army of gorillas with the looks you're giving them!" He added, putting a hand on David's cheeks and squeezing, causing him to moan in discomfort.

"No, no no no.." He whispered.

"These children are innocent. It's the attendants who have really behind it!" He shouted, pointing his rifle at the cowering flight attendants in their tattered kebayas and suits, he walked past each flight attendant

"Shoot them already!" someone cried out impatiently, resulting in the man sighing.

"Enough people have died already, thanks to them." He retorted as he flipped his gun over and brought it into Justin's forehead. He shrieked in pain before collapsing onto the floor, clutching his bleeding forehead.

Ronald turned his gun to the man, who only laughed in response.

"You think you can fool me?" He questioned, as he approached the boy, who only watched in shock as he stuck the gun's barrel against his forehead and pulled the trigger without a second thought, the gun clicked dry, the man laughed with triumph.

"Lesson one kiddo: Don't be such a cliche" He bragged as he turned and walked back to the cowering Justin.

"Don't you get it?" He asked Justin as he crouched down. "Don't fucking lead people to a death trap and expect to get away with if. You're lucky to still be alive." he whispered to his ear as the other flight attendants grabbed a first aid kit on the floor and dragged themselves into the captain's quarters, followed by the cheering of the passengers, and awkward glances between Jack and the other students.

"Well, now that those traitors are gone, let's break some ice." He stated calmly, wrapping his shoulders around Ronald, who shivered in response.

"My name is Randall, I'm your normal person. Normal being few and far between on this flight apparently, looking at all you cavemen." He said with a brief chuckle.

"And I will make sure we all get along, okay?" He said in a soft voice as he ruffled Ronald's hair as if he were his own son. Jack sighed in relief, the crowd finally did not look completely murderous. He couldn't believe it had gotten this bad.

It hadn't even been 12 hours.