Glory (Book 2) Page 19

  Day 7

  Chapter 1

  When Scooter and the girls arrived at the airport, they saw that it was surrounded by a fence. Scooter walked up to it and placed his fingers through the mesh wiring. He looked out over the runway.

  "Your plane is here somewhere?" he asked.

  Julie came up behind him. "It isn't actuallymy plane. My father and I just practiced here. We rented the plane that we flew. But, yeah, it's in there." She pointed to a hangar.

  "You sure?"

  "It usually is."

  "How do we get in?"

  "There's a gate at the front."

  "Or we could just climb over the fence."

  Julie stopped him by placing her hand on his arm. "I don't think Emily would be able to make it."

  Scooter looked down at the little girl. Of course she wouldn't be able to make it. He should have thought of that. But he wanted to get to the plane as quickly as he could. He put out his hand and ruffled Emily's hair.

  "I know," he said. "I was just joking."

  Julie didn't laugh. Neither did Emily. It wasn't all that funny of a joke. And, really, it hadn't even been one.

  "Let's get going," he said, anxious to get in.

  Julie led them to the front of the airport. It was a little bit of a walk, but nothing compared to the one they had just made to get there.

  They came upon the front gate. It was open.

  Behind it was a road that led to a building. It looked like a clubhouse.

  "Should we check out that place first?" Scooter asked, pointing at the building. "We might find something to eat."

  Julie nodded her head. "Good idea. There are a few vending machines inside."

  Vending machines. Unlike his experience in the staff room at the airport, he wasn't all that worried about them. He had his axe. He'd be able to get into these ones, no problem. He smiled as they walked over to the building.

  It was quiet. The whole airport was. Scooter didn't think that any of thosethings were around. But he couldn't be positive. He needed to keep on guard. He had to keep the axe ready.

  Julie came upon the door first. It was closed. She stopped to look at Scooter before opening it. Her eyes were wide. Her lips trembled slightly. And rightfully so. If this was anything like the other airport, sheshould be nervous.

  Scooter raised his axe above his shoulder and motioned with his head for Emily to stand behind him.

  "I'm ready," he said.

  Julie opened the door.

  A waft of vinegar came at them. It was putrid. It wasdeath.

  "What the fuck?" Scooter said.Shit, the little girl. "Sorry, but that smells bad."

  Julie looked into the room, though she didn't move any further toward it. "Maybe we shouldn't go in."

  That sounded about right to Scooter. Whoever was in there had been there a long time. In the heat. And they hadn't been preserved. "What about the food?" he asked.

  "I don't know. I don't want to go in there. I don't think Emily should see it. That's for sure."

  Thatwasfor sure. They couldn't have the little girl go in. They really shouldn't have even had her this close.

  Scooter turned around and looked at the little girl. She was looking toward the open door. Her face was scrunched up. She was pinching her nose.

  "I guess that I could go in," he said. "Just to take a quick look around."

  Julie lowered her eyes and shook her head.

  "I'll just be a minute. No more than that."

  Julie continued to look doubtful.

  Scooter wasn't all that confident about his decision either, but they had to look for food. It probably wouldn't take him long to find something. There could be something on one of the tables in there. Maybe he wouldn't have to look all too hard.

  "I'll be fast." He spoke more to himself than to Julie. He needed to convince himself that he'd be okay.

  "If you're sure."

  Scooter wasn't sure, but he was going to go in there anyway. He felt he had to. "I am."

  Julie stood back, but she continued to hold the door open for him. Scooter took a few steps forward. Then a few more. The smell got stronger with each step. He looked at Julie.

  "I'll be okay," he said. Again, this was more to himself.

  Julie put out her hand and placed it on his arm. "Don't be long."

  Scooter glanced down at the hand. Then he looked up at her and smiled. "I won't."

  He walked into the building. The smell inside was even worse.

  He took a few steps further in.

  It was hard to see much because he kept scrunching up his face like little Emily had. He couldn't see too well out of the little squints his eyes were making. But he did eventually see a few dead bodies lying on the floor. There were some chairs knocked over behind them. Plus, a lot of blood. Most of it had dried.

  "Fuck," he said. He didn't have to watch himself this time. Emily was too far away to hear.

  "Is everything okay?" Julie asked. She hadn't left the door.

  "It's okay." His voice almost choked as he spoke. He felt the urge to vomit. "Just give me a sec."

  He placed his hand over his mouth. Not that that would do much. He was pretty sure that a gas mask wouldn't help in here.

  He continued to look around.

  Lying on the ground beside the dead bodies was a bag of chips and a few cans of pop. He cringed at the thought of them. He needed to find something better. Though, after a moment, he supposed they were better than nothing. He wasn't going to try to break into the vending machines. The smell was unbearable.

  He rushed over and pick them up. As he did, he tried his best not to look at the dead bodies. Unfortunately, he couldn't help it. He glanced over to the side and saw one of the dead men staring at the ceiling. Blood spilled out of his mouth. Scooter was sure that he could see little worms moving through it.

  "Fuck," he said once more.

  He looked at another body. This one had had its ear torn off. Part of its neck had been chewed. Scooter could see the same little worms wiggling around.

  "Fuck, fuck, fuck."

  He grabbed the chips and cans of pop. He couldn't look at this anymore. He couldn't smell it. He was going to be sick.And for what?Chips and pop?Fuck.

  He hurried outside.

  Julie held the door open for him as he made his way into the fresh air. He took in a deep breath. He could feel everything in his stomach threatening to come out. He fought against it. Pushed it down.

  Julie came up behind him. "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah." He wasn't going to tell her that he wanted to throw up. No way. He'd just shrug it off, try to make it look like nothing. "I'm okay."

  His voice was choked so it was obvious that he wasn't all right. She must have known that he was sick, though she didn't say anything about it.

  Instead, she pointed to the things in his hands. "I see you found some stuff."

  He looked down at the chips and pop. "Yeah, I did."

  He handed them to her. She took them and opened the bag. She handed a few chips to Emily. The little girl took them and shoved a few into her mouth. She offered some to Scooter next.

  He didn't want them. Not anymore. It was the stink. He knew that it probably wasn't possible, but he thought that the smell might have gotten through the bag and infected the chips.He definitely didn't want any of those. He wasn't even going to have any of the pop. He'd look for something else, sure that he'd be able to find something somewhere.

  After the girls finished off the food, Julie led them back to the hangar. Scooter was feeling a bit better by now. The fresh air had done him good. He knew that he had been silly not to eat and drink what he had found. It had just been his imagination getting the better of him. But, what the hell, ithad gotten the better of him. There was nothing he could do about it now; unless he wanted to go back into the clubhouse to search for something else.

  He didn't.

  Chapter 2

  They came upon the hangar. The door was closed. Julie was the fi
rst to get to it again. She put her hand out and grabbed at the door knob. Once more she didn't open it right away. She looked at Scooter to make sure that he was ready. He raised his axe and nodded his head.

  "Okay," she said. "Here we go."

  She opened the door. Scooter was expecting another horrible smell to come from the room, but it didn't smell bad at all.

  "So far so good," he said.

  He went inside.

  Although the hangar was a bit dark, Scooter had no trouble making out the plane. It was small; one of those ones that he had seen on TV, used for rescues in the wilderness or a show at a fair. It had a small cockpit. Two wings (not four like some of the other ones that he had seen before). A propeller.

  "Is this the one you flew?" he asked.

  Julie stuck her head in the hangar and looked at the plane. "Yeah, it is." She walked over to it and put her hand on the wing. A smile crossed her face.

  It made Scooter feel good as well. Orbetter,anyway.

  Since they had started walking, he had grown less and less sure of Julie's plan. He had never actually flown before and didn't think he was going to like it much. He also wasn't sure of how capable Julie was to fly. She wasn't much older than himself and she had said that she had only gone up with her father, who wasn't with them. It all made him question the idea of having her as the pilot on his first flight.

  But now, with that smile on her face, she looked confident and that helped.

  Julie turned around and looked at Emily. "Want to go for a ride?" she asked.

  The little girl looked at her. Scared. Emily had never been on a plane, either.

  Scooter put his hand on her shoulder. "It'll be okay."

  Emily turned to him next. The expression on her face showed that she wanted to believe him. Hell, even he wanted to believe himself.It would be okay. It had to be.

  "Just let me do a few things first," Julie said.

  She made her way around the plane and started grabbing at different parts of it, checking them. He didn't know what she was doing. He didn't bother to ask. He knew that she'd just explain it with words that he wouldn't understand. Then she'd have to explain those things to him.

  "We're almost ready," Julie said after a while. She was on the other side of the plane.

  "You sure?" Scooter didn't want her to hurry. He wanted her to make sure that everything was okay first.

  "Yeah, I just need to check that it's fuelled up." Julie did a few more things, then came out from around the front of it. "It's ready. We can fly."

  Scooter walked Emily over to the plane. Julie had opened one of the doors and pointed to where the little girl could sit. She helped her into the seat. Once she was settled, she did up the seat belt.

  Scooter noticed that it was a lot more complicated then the seat belts that were in cars. He hoped that he wasn't going to have trouble getting into it himself. He didn't want his his face to redden...yet again.

  "Okay," Julie said to the little girl. "Wait a minute. Scooter and I have to open the hangar door."

  Scooter hadn't even thought of the hangar door. But how else were they going to get out of here? They couldn't just fly through it.

  He followed her to it.

  Julie unlatched the lock. Then she pulled. Scooter helped. It was hard to get it to move. But, eventually, it started to slide.

  Sun poured into the hangar.

  "Perfect," Julie said. "Let's go!"

  Scooter nodded his head. It was time to fly.

  *

  Scooter still wasn't sure that this was a good idea.

  First, they didn't know where they were flying to. All that they knew was that they needed to get away from the city, to find other people.

  Second, Scooter was starting to second guess Julie's ability to fly again. Sure, she had looked confident enough. But he knew a lot of people who looked confident that couldn't do shit.

  "You sure we should do this?" he asked.

  Julie peered over at him. She was attaching a helmet to her head. One of those ones with a microphone on it. She had given one to Scooter, but he hadn't put it on yet.

  "Yeah," she said. "I am. We can't keep walking. We haven't seen anyone. And, like you said, we can't drive. This is the best idea."

  Scooter thought about it for a moment. They couldn't drive. There were too many cars. And they hadn't seen anyone. For all they knew no one else was around. But if there were, then they'd have a better chance of finding them from the air.

  "Okay," he said. "Let's do this." He put on his helmet.

  Julie explained a few things to him, though there really wasn't much for him to do. She'd do it all. He just needed to sit and relax.

  "All right." Julie flicked a few switches. "Ready?"

  Scooter looked over his shoulder at Emily. She was sitting there. Nervous. But she nodded her head. He looked back to Julie and nodded as well.

  "All right," Julie said again. "Here we go."

  She pressed a button and the propeller came to life. It started spinning slowly and stuttering. Then it started to spin quickly. It blurred before Scooter's eyes. It was loud.No wonder they needed the microphones.

  Julie pressed a few more buttons and flicked a few more switches. She looked back at Scooter, gave him a thumbs up and the plane began to move.

  As the plane inched its way out of the hangar, the sun started to shine brightly through the windshield. Scooter squinted his eyes for a moment until they adjusted.

  It didn't seem to bother Julie. She steered the airplane out of the hangar and onto the runway. She moved it along to an open stretch. When she got it lined up, she slowed down and came to a stop. She didn't say anything, but Scooter knew that they were preparing to take off.

  Julie did a few more things that Scooter didn't even bother trying to figure it out. The engine roared. A few more buttons. A few more flicks. Then the plane began to move.

  Scooter was surprised at how fast it went. It pushed him back into his seat as they rushed forward.

  The feeling was exhilarating. But it was also scary. Soon they would be up in the air. Flying.

  Scooter looked back at Emily. She looked okay now. Which was surprising. He thought that she would have been more frightened than before. She wasn't. He smiled at her, then turned back to look at the runway.

  It was then that he saw it. One ofthem. Off in the field. Rushing toward them.

  It must have heard the engine.

  Scooter knew that it would never be able to catch them. It was too far away and they were moving too quickly. He didn't even bother telling Julie about it. It wouldn't matter.

  The plane picked up speed. Julie pulled back on the steering wheel. Scooter was sure that it had a different name, but he didn't know what it was. The nose of the plane started to lift. It rose off of the ground. The feeling of weightlessness felt strange. But in a good way.

  He looked back at the creature. It was still running at them. He could see its open mouth, though he couldn't hear it over the sound of the plane.

  The plane lifted higher and higher. The creature got smaller and smaller.

  They left it running along the runway, looking up at them, screaming.

  Chapter 3

  "How long do we have before this thing runs out of fuel?" Scooter asked. He was speaking through the little headset attached to his helmet. Julie turned to look at him.

  "A few hours," she said. Then added, "At most."

  Scooter thought about it. He didn't know how far they'd get in a few hours. He'd never been in an airplane before. He didn't know how fast they were moving. But a few hours sounded good. It ought to get them pretty far away from the city.

  "Did you have anywhere you wanted to go?" Julie asked.

  "No." As with flying, he also didn't know much about outside of the city. He had heard a few town names, but had never actually been to any of them. His world consisted of the few blocks around his house and the road leading to the airport. Not much more.

  He looked out
the window. The ground was far below them. Thething was nowhere in sight. They had left it behind, screaming on the runway.

  Scooter was glad that it hadn't come out while they were on the ground. Yeah, he had his axe. And, yeah, he probably could have killed it. But it wasn't something that he looked forward to. It also wasn't something that he wanted to risk.

  "I was thinking that maybe we should fly over the city." The idea came to him out of nowhere.

  Julie turned to look at him. Eyes wide. Jaw dropped. "You want towhat?"

  "Fly over the city. Check it out. See what's happening there?"

  She shook her head slowly. "I don't know if that's a good idea. It might be dangerous."

  "Everything's dangerous! But if we do, we might find out what happened. Or maybe we'll find some people like us - people who haven't changed."

  "I don't know," Julie repeated; except this time she appeared to be thinking it over.

  "You said we have a few hours, right?"

  "Yeah."

  "Then let's just go for an hour or so. We're so high up. What could it hurt?"

  Scooter didn't know why he was suggesting it. At the beginning, he had just wanted out of the city.Now he wanted to go back?He supposed it could be good to go back if they could find help, find answers, find other survivors.

  "Okay," Julie agreed. She looked at her gauges. "We've got enough fuel for a while. We could fly over part of it. Not the whole thing. Then we can turn off and head out. I don't think it'll be a problem."

  Scooter wanted to laugh at that.She didn't think that it would be a problem. The whole world was a problem now. But he kept his mouth shut and simply nodded his head.

  Julie did a few more things with the controls. Then she steered the plane toward the city. It didn't turn all too quickly, but Scooter could still feel the force of it pushing him against his seat.