The Beginning of The End

Flight of our lives

Scarlett

Leaving is always a hard thing to do. When you have planned it for weeks it still doesn't always go smoothly. With only minutes to say goodbye and when it came as such a shock it was almost impossible. I will always regret leaving my friends to fend for themselves because this is another thing that could have changed the future if it had all gone differently. My past haunts me and it always will. I wish everything could have gone differently but I understand that the past is the past and although we want it to it can never have a different outcome. I can only hope to make a better decision next time if there ever is a next time.

***

The minute I could no longer see them through the back windscreen of the mini I felt like I had died. I feared I would never see my friends again or that they wouldn't want to see me again if I ever returned. The car journey only took a few minutes. As I said earlier the airport is within walking distance.

The airport was crammed full of people trying to escape. This was probably the busiest it had ever been. But it wasn't only people scattered around the airport. The bees had made it here too and their numbers were vast. The army who had been brought in to deal with things after the bees had systematically destroyed the school were fighting bravely against the onslaught.

More battle scenes swam before my eyes. The sound of gunshots was loud in my ears. Young children were screaming and mothers hugged them protectively whilst surging towards the terminals carrying luggage with them. No need to check in today.

The bees were clearly winning. The bullets only enraged them they didn't actually kill them. The floor was a gory sight. Served heads, broken bones and lashing of blood was entwined between the broken bodies. Most were human, the odd headless bee protruded from the bottom of the pile. The death count was rising.

A thick layer of fresh blood joined the rotting pile as yet another fell. This had been going on for some time from the look of it.

We passed straight through the airport. None of the staff wanted to wait around for the bees. People ran through everything ignoring the chaos around them. The aeroplane, their only escape route, firmly in their sight.

We boarded the plane. Orlando, Florida it said above the terminal. There were no times only destinations. The planes were leaving as soon as they could take off, only taking the passengers that had boarded by that time. We settled into seats in row 12 and 13. Our suitcases were positioned in front of us and as many that would fit were stuffed into the overhead lockers.

I relaxed into the seat as the aeroplane started its engine. It felt like years had passed before we were on the runway. There was a plane in front of us. It accelerated leaping into the air. Ours followed in much the same fashion.

People around me took a visible sigh of relief. They were all sharing the same thought- We have made it.

Just in time. I thought as I looked out the window at what was left of the airport in time to see it exploding with a great force as the bees spilt out. Dust hung in the air clouding my view of the space where the airport once stood. Ok so maybe we hadn't made it yet.

Alex sat next to me. He spoke using his eyes not wanting the surrounding people to hear him. Are we safe? His eyes were pleading me to say 'yes'.

I shook my head. I tried to make the truth seem less painful. There still out there. There close on our tail and at our current speed, it is unsure whether they will reach us or not.

He nodded. Showing me he understood. Then looked blankly at the seat in front of him on which his 3-year-old sister Kira was sat, next to his mum.

The plane was travelling upwards on about an 87-degree angle to escape the explosion and sea of bees following us. The pressure increased. I felt my ears buzz with the sensation of it. I focused on swallowing which was incredibly difficult to do with a dry throat. It sounded like messages were being whispered in my buzzing ears. Unclear messages like someone was talking on a radio with very little signal. I could hear things that seemed like words but made no sense. I felt it was important but I couldn't get a clear impression of it. As I focus my attention solely on the words it became clearer. It sounded like a warning. But the sensation cleared as my ears finally popped.

Another plane was making a similar journey next to ours. I recognised it as the one that had taken off before us. They were a perfect match. Our plane was an identical copy of the other one even down to the angle and position in the sky. I guessed that the bees had fallen behind as the angle of the 2 planes decreased.

But in the corner of the plane's dirt tinged window, the blind drawn up for take-off was a flash of black and yellow fuzz whizzing up behind our plane. I thought that I had left my friends in danger but now I knew that they weren't the only ones I had to worry about.

The staff knew about the followers but they were trying not to show it. The plane's speed increased. My ears popped wildly, out of my control as the plane accelerated.

The distance between us and the trailing bees increased giving the impression that we might escape a horrible fate.

The plane started rocking. Black and yellow covered the windows on the other side of the plane. They were imitating turbulence. The alarms were going off. Seatbelt lights flashed as the turbulence took full hold of the plane. Passengers were going crazy, kids were crying. Half the plane was ticking; most of the glass on the other side was already cracked. I had replayed the next step a million times in my mind after it happened at school. I couldn't count the ticks they were a countdown to pain and suffering. Everyone knew what was happening but no one could see a way out. That made everything ten times worse but I prefer to know that I am going to die even if by not knowing you still have a fleeting hope of being saved.

The staff emerged cradling wooden planks under their arms. One of the staff had a cold sweat caused by pure panic over their entire body; their breath came in desperate, heavy gasps and they were physical shaking. I guessed the women was not that old only about 25 and not yet in control of her emotions. They wrenched all the doors on our side open revealing the blue of the sky. A gust of wind spiralled around the door and hit me in the face. It was bitterly cold. I couldn't estimate our altitude but misty clouds drifted past the window and sometimes crept in through the door.

Peering through the wind and mist I saw the other plane it doors stood open like ours. The planks of wood they had with them were being stretched between the planes. They were just about wide enough for a cat to crawl across.

My mind fluttered with reasons. I didn't think using them to fight the bees would help but it is what I wanted to believe it was for.

The attendants attached it to both planes. It formed a weird kind of bridge. I hoped the idea forcing its way to the front of my mind wasn't the use for that wooden plank connecting the two planes.

Passengers were on their feet in seconds and heading for the doors. The ticking continued. I jumped up leaving my seatbelt where it fell.

As I approached I saw people attempting the walk of death across the plank bridge. All you could see was the poor, innocent people being swept off their feet and falling into the blood-filled chasm below. They stood no chance of survival as they fell into the swirly, blob filled mess bobbing in the Scarlett sea of thick liquid. If the fall didn't kill them starvation or the bees would.

We had not moved far from the airport. The crimson lake was in a large clearing 40 miles from town and still a good 20 minutes from another place of civilisation.

Another piece of wood was being passed across the gap. It made a kind of handrail but in their rush people had not waited for it. Now it was being attached to both planes. Our families followed three other people across the gap.

The angle made the walk close to impossible but we had to try. The movement of the plane was trying to throw you over the edge. My mum and dad were in front, Alex's mum holding his 3-year-old sister in her arms followed Alex and me, Daniel was at the back, behind Alex's dad. A sudden thought broke my concentration as I balanced on the ledge. Why had I even tried this? But I knew the answer it was die in the plane from the explosion or die down there covered in gory liquid. It was a really a death/death situation with little possibility for survival.

On the other makeshift bridges, people were finally getting across the gap. I pushed my legs onwards- if they could make it so could I.

I heard shouts from the other plane the windows had exploded and the bees had got to the engine. It was now ticking away like a bomb. We only had seconds left to cross.

My thoughts faded to the friends I had left behind and for the first time, I was glad they hadn't come with us. At this rate, there was a greater chance of survival at home.