Survival of the Fittest

Chapter Thirteen - The Influencer

It is any flyer's fear, right? Some are more nervous about plane crashes than others, but even the most assured passenger would lose their cool if the aircraft was about to crash. Hundreds of planes and flying hours behind me, I had long given up listening to the safety instructions.

Seriously, who doesn't?

They all become one and the same when you fly as often as I do.

If only I had listened though.

Social Influencers like myself have the perks of being given the opportunity to fly all over the world, visiting exotic locations, trying on luxury clothes, all at someone else's expense. I mean seriously, what's not to love?

I chuckled to myself thinking of all the times my parents screamed at me for dropping out of school early and ruining my life.

Proved them wrong!

Really, who am I kidding though? If I had listened, would I really be in this predicament right now?

Traveling from a product tasting I had been invited to in Miami, to a clothing exhibit in Rio that they wanted me to blog about, a catastrophic failure with the plane had resulted in a horrific plane crash. By the time I had regained consciousness I could see scattered metal as far as my vision would allow, parts of suitcases and the plane hanging from the tree beds that had softened our impact.

Passengers scattered from electric cables that flung wildly and actively in the air, others trying to help any survivors that were still stuck.

My brain scrambled to make sense of what was happening. I watched in horror as the more abled passengers scrambled to collect anything and everything they could to survive. My brain hadn't even processed that far ahead yet!

Damn it, why didn't I pay more attention in Scouts to what they were saying, and not just the boys?!

Willing my aching body I managed to locate my handbag and was thankful to find my essentials still there - Insulin chews! The excitement was short-lived as one of the other passengers saw me pull them out and quickly snatched them from my grasp, running off.

"You son of a bitch! I need those for my diabetes!"

The frustration, fear, and pain were overwhelming as I willed myself to get up. If nothing else I had to make sure I found enough to survive until help could be sent. Surely in this technological world, it wouldn't take long to notice something had happened.

Technology!

Tearing through the contents of my bag again, searching for the saving grace, I came up empty-handed. The overwhelming feeling of defeat raged inside me.

"AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

When I heard a growling sound come back, I was quick to shut up and cover my own mouth.

In the annoyance of finding out someone had already ransacked my bag, leaving me with nothing more than a few glow sticks, tampons, airplane peanuts, some rubber bands, and my insulin chews which had already been pinched...I had forgotten to factor in my current environment.

Once I had pulled myself up with the assistance of a nearby tree I saw one of the Flight Stewards trying to usher everyone in one direction. Assuming they had received instructions from civilization before we lost radio contact, I desperately tried to find the energy to follow.

It didn't take me long to lose the small group, a combination of low blood sugar levels, injury, and fatigue. Using instinct, I continued at a pace I could maintain, by following the footsteps they had left before me.