A beautiful purple to pink sunrise blanketed the once dark sky. The sun rose as we stood on the roof of the old building.
"I see the aerial assistance. That way." Joe pointed out with a smile. "Looks like they really are still operating."
"God, look how infested it is down there." Christie commented, scoffing in disgust. "I've never seen so many zombies in one place."
"I think that just means we should keep it moving." Haze commented back, "I didn't come this far to get eaten now."
"Heard that." I agreed, slowly heading to the ladder that brought us up here. "Careful for razor blades."
Christie chortled, "only crazy bitches put razor blades on ladders."
Joe scowled in response.
I turned to ask Jordan if this was where she lived before. Turns out it was. She knew these cities like the back of her hand and was familiar with which routes were more infested.
"I gotta thank you, Jake." Christie spoke sincerely as we began entering the vehicles. "My dad would've loved you, ya know? I think he already did. He knew you'd get us here."
"It wasn't just me. You saved all of us at least once, Christie. Think about that." I shoulder bumped her playfully, "your dad was a good man. I wouldn't be here without 'em."
"I did it for her." She glanced to Courtney who stood feet away. "I'll always protect her. I know you will, too. Daddy knew you would. Hell, you have my approval to marry her."
My eyes widened. "It's a little early for that, huh?"
She chuckled. "Kidding, duck. I know it'll happen someday. I better be invited."
I smiled, admiring Courtney from a distance before turning back to Christie.
"Just get in the car so we can get the hell out of here, Christie."
_
The place was not at all similar to what I pictured. It was a plane station now modified to be a small airport. Men at the gates shouted at us as we approached.
"Get out of your vehicles, now!"
We exited the cars and put our hands up.
"Who are you?" A man asked me as he walked through the gates, walking assertively as he approached.
He was dressed in a military uniform. It was baggy, presumably because he had understandably lost weight during this pandemic.
"I'm just a man trying to get his people to safety."
"Here for the aerial assistance?"
I nodded my head yes, keeping my shaky hands in the air.
"You'll be tested for the virus before you're allowed on the planes. If anyone tests positive, they're killed on sight."
I glanced around at the others. It's too late now. What if it's in our blood because we were around it for so long? Is that how it works?
"Can you really send us somewhere safe?" I inquired curiously as I turned to him.
"Sure can."
"Then I don't care what you test me for."
Him and a few other men patted us down and sent us inside for testing. As we sat in the 'waiting room', a lobby that was isolated, I noticed there were other people. A woman sat with her girlfriend and another friend as they awaited results.
My heart began to pound. What if they're just going to kill us? They could want to eat us like those crazed cannibals back in the woods. They have every reason to kill us, not help us.
"You're shaking, Jake. Calm down." Courtney cooed as she sat next to me, her wide brown eyes settled on me. "We're going to be okay. We made it."
"We didn't make it yet."
And when the 'results' came back, we all passed.
A woman led us to a small plane with a man in front. This would be the plane that brings us to safety. We won't have to worry anymore about being bitten to death by walking nightmares.
Courtney sat next to me. The others sat in the seats surrounding us. It was a small plane. Christie spoke to the pilot and he assured he's done this before.
"Do you really think it's over?" Courtney whispered. "Can we really go back to normal after everything?"
I reached over to squeeze her hand tight. "We can try."
She responded with a smile but I could see the tears in her eyes.
The plane began to take off. As it went into the air, for the first time in a long time, I prayed. I stared down at all the buildings and zombies that all seemed so small now. As I held Courtney's hand, I hoped that they stayed that small.
"Care for a drink? Peanuts?" The young lady questioned as she walked down the narrow aisle.
"I'll take some water. Thanks." Courtney accepted her offer.
"I wonder what Vick would've thought of this." A somber smile came across my face. "Wish he could be here with us now."
"Maybe he is." Courtney responded as she set her head on my shoulder. "Wake me up in paradise, okay?"
I smiled in response, leaning to put my head on hers. "Deal."
I stared out the window, fascinated with the way everything rolled by. Minutes of muffled conversations went by before a man stood up, stumbling down the aisle. His eyes were clouded and he began to let out deep coughs.
I examined him, noticing the blood on his hands that expelled from his mouth.
"Oh my god, he's infected!" A woman screamed.
"Shit!" Another man yelled.
"I — I just don't feel well. Please." The man stumbled before falling over.
My heart dropped. They took our weapons before we got on the plane.
The young attendant ran over to the man before flipping him over.
"He's bitten!" One of the women exclaimed. "Why the hell did you let him on the plane?"
"We didn't! I've never seen him in my life. He must've snuck on."
As the attendant began to panic, the man stood up, grabbing the woman and sinking his teeth into her neck. Everyone else became frantic. Within moments, the virus was attacking everything around us once more.
This time, we're in the air.
I pulled the man off of the flight attendant. Christie was prying her knife out of the man's head within seconds. The blade broke off in his head.
"Shit. These small knives suck ass." Christie muttered, "that's all I had."
We turned our heads to the flight attendant. She was gone.
"Where did she go?" Anna inquired in a shaken voice.
A scream from the front of the plane caused us to take off. The pilot was being attacked by the now zombified flight attendant. Within moments, the plane was going down.
"I have to go try to help him!" Christie exclaimed.
She attempted to fight gravity to get to the front of the plane. Before long, I couldn't see her anymore.
"We have to get back in our seatbelts! Get ready to go down!" I commanded as I grabbed Courtney.
"What about Christie?" Courtney called out in panic. "Please, Jake!"
The plane tilted and tugged before it began to nose dive. I blacked out, Courtney's hand still intertwined with mine.
_
My eyes slowly opened. I was stuck in the seat of the plane. I struggled with my seatbelt before realizing the plane was mangled and broken apart.
"Courtney?"
I turned around. She was stuck in her seatbelt and still unconscious. Blood was flowing from a wound in her head.
"Courtney!" I undid her seatbelt in a panic. "Please, wake up."
"Shit..." Haze rubbed his head before he began the struggle of taking off his seatbelt. "What the hell happened?"
Anna was already awake and out of her seat. "Where are we?"
Haze rushed to Nista and Anna rushed to Joe. Everyone seemed to be pretty badly beaten up. Nobody had any idea how long we've been here. Courtney woke up and immediately began complaining about the pain in her head.
Some people were now zombies. They reached out from their seats and let out moans and growls. The pilot was alright. He stood up. Another woman was frantic as she found her girlfriend dead.
"You did this on purpose!" The woman screamed at the pilot. "My girlfriend is dead because of you!"
"I didn't purposely crash the plane, ma'am." The pilot argued sincerely. "I wouldn't do that. I wanted to bring you guys to safety."
"Bullshit!" The woman fought before shoving the pilot. "You killed her!"
"Oh my God," Courtney's heart fell. "Where's Christie?"
"Don't panic. As soon as we make sure we're all okay, we'll go find her." I reassured. "Jordan's gone too. They could be together."
Every single one of us had some sort of damage done to us from the plane crash. Courtney's head seemed to be the worst. As we trudged through a nearby wooded area, she seemed to be out of it. I held her by her waist as she struggled to keep consciousness.
"Cmon, Court. Stay strong."
"As soon as we get to the nearest city, we can start finding weapons." Haze planned firmly. "Then maybe we can clear a place to stay while we rest up."
Grrr... rrr...
Two zombies stumbled through the area. Growls and moans escaped their lips. With no weapons, we had no choice but to hurry along.
We didn't land in the safe zone.
"Hell!" Joe ranted angrily. "We worked so goddamn hard to get to the safe zone! This is a joke. A sick fucking joke."
"Shut the Hell up, Joe. You're going to attract the dead." Nista hissed.
Growls began to echo through the woods. I turned. My heart dropped as I met eyes with one of many, many zombies.