Viral Pandemic

Chapter 9

Harry was struggling to hold on as the tank jumped up and down, smashing the parked cars under them into pieces. Harry was trying hard to not laugh at the prospect of the car owners finding their vehicles unusable anymore in a few hours. Even though it was not funny, Harry still found it funny.

After several minutes of smashing and bashing, the group of tanks finally left the street into a wider road and proceeded at full speed towards the next military base nearby. Throughout the journey, the group had met several zombies with one managing to jump from an upper floor of the local bank building and clinging to the tank. All of them, however, was eliminated easily.

In about three hours, they managed to reach the military base of their target. Harry was more than grateful to get out of the tank. All the time, he was forced to crouch in a space that was barely half his own height. Up until now, he was still walking slowly, as though his legs were made of soft foam.

However, the team had no time to waste here. Their mission stated that they had to get Harry to JFK as fast and safe as possible. In a matter of minutes, the team had talked to the Post Commander about their mission and had got two F-22 A Raptors easily.

Harry could have never anticipated that he would get a ride in a fighter jet. As he boarded the plane, he began to feel nervous and amazed at the same time. The pilot briefed him for a while about the safety measures and whatnot. Harry was not concentrating. He only got attentive when the pilot mentioned that they will travel at supersonic speed so the trip will be fast.

Harry had never travelled supersonic and wondered how it would be like. Nevertheless, Harry wasted no time and prepped up for the flight which he estimated would be over in five minutes.

Almost an hour after the team arrived at the military base, Harry found himself safely airborne with another F-22 to his right, which functioned as an escort. About three seconds after that, the pilot made a quick jump to 10000 feet and accelerated to Mach 1.4.

The next few moments were quite a blur for Harry because he got disoriented a bit. He only came back to sense when they were taxiing in JFK. Upon questioning, he found out that it took them only about a minute to reach the airport.

The two F-22s parked in a hangar large enough to fit two airliners. Harry then grabbed his bag and the SCAR he had brought with him from home. As he entered the airport terminal, he was flabbergasted.

Harry had never seen in his life an airport terminal being so empty. Where there should have been a few thousand people, Harry could see only five or six people who looked like passengers.

Harry and his companions walked up to a counter with a large sign which said ticketing service. Harry needed a ticket to fly to Kuala Lumpur. As he walked up there, a young lady who was listening to music came into his view.

“Hello?” Harry greeted. The lady looked up, pulled out her earbuds and turned towards Harry. She jerked her head a little. “Not a very friendly one,” Harry thought.

“Are there any flights available today?” Harry inquired.

“Only three airliners available. Where to?” the lady asked with a toneless voice.

“Geneva through Kuala Lumpur. But, if it’s possible, can you give me a direct flight instead?” Harry said. The lady turned to her computer and started a process that was similar to mashing up a keyboard.

“You’ve got Etihad but no direct flights. Stopover in Kuala Lumpur or Singapore?

“Give me Kuala Lumpur. When does the flight leave?” Harry asked.

“Eight hours from now. The flight’s in the morning. Your name?” the lady informed Harry. Harry then proceeded to give the lady his passenger details. After a bit more keyboard mashing and noisy printing, the ticket lay in front of Harry.

“So, a ticket to Geneva. Stopover in KLIA, meals included, aircraft type Airbus A380-800, flight time approximately 14 hours to KLIA, 15 hours to Geneva from KLIA. Price with tax and fees included: thirty-three thousand four hundred dollars. Would you like to pay in cash or cards? We accept VISA, MasterCard, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.” the lady explained the details of the flight. Harry was aghast.

“Thirty-three thousand? Why is it so expensive?” Harry asked.

“Consider yourself lucky, gentleman. You’re flying in The Residence, the best aircraft seat in the whole world. You know, yesterday, an economy ticket to Japan was around forty-five thousand dollars. Now just pay up.” the lady said. Harry couldn’t believe it when he pulled his debit card out of his wallet to pay for the flight. He might as well buy a cheap but real apartment in the suburbs with that much money. He was also very amazed at the fact that the "flying apartment" seat is actually cheaper than an economy seat.

Anyways, he was flying in the best suite available in the world, and as he had a lot of time, he could enjoy the lounge at the airport terminal. He had flown only once in the Residence seat and that was a few years ago when he went on vacation in Abu Dhabi.

Harry left the lady and the counter towards his “friends” to say thanks and bid them goodbye. After all of them was done, Harry turned around and proceeded to Terminal 4, where the lounge is located.

After much walking and frantically looking around, he finally managed to locate the lounge. As he entered the place, he noticed that there was nobody there. Literally no one. Not even the staff. Harry was surprised and wondered for a while whether he should go in or not. After a while, he decided to go in and enjoy the whole place to himself.

Harry literally spent the next four or five hours in the lounge, eating and drinking. This was one really lucky chance that he got the lounge all to himself. As he saw that there was more food at the counter, he quickly picked up some of the delicious ones and put them in his bag, intending to eat them later.

With three hours left, Harry exited the lounge and proceeded towards his gate, which he thought was probably a mile away. And then there was the check-in and the security checks left. It’s a shame there was no staff at the lounge because usually, Residence flyers get to skip all the checks and zoom straight to the gate.

No staff at the lounge also meant that no butler on the flight. Harry was hoping that there will be a private butler for him. The butler was the most exclusive thing about the flight. How many airlines offer private butlers both at the terminal and the aircraft?

Unfortunately, Harry’s hope was simply a hope. Once he arrived at the gate, he learnt that he is the only passenger in the whole flight. Not sure to be happy or not, Harry proceeded towards the gangway that connected the aircraft to the terminal. At the door of the aircraft, there was a woman standing. At her sight, she greeted Harry and showed him to his seat before closing the door and serving some welcome juices and snacks.