Chapter 25.

Crash.

Jackson Cole.

Time/Area: Over the Arctic Ocean. July 14th, 2013.

“Don’t worry,” I said, “Jason will be fine.”

Melinda shook her head, “He better be..”

She turned back to the plane window, not saying another word. We were flying on

Beta Airlines at the moment. There were a lot of people on the flight, which I was not used to. Normally, we would fly Privately, but due to the timing of this...monster crisis, the quickest thing we could do was use public transport.

Of course, it was still first class.

Jason’s call really disturbed me. I knew he was always quick to believe things of the supernatural, but this time…felt different. I sighed as I brought my head back,

“Maybe I could get some rest before we land.” I thought, shuffling around to get comfortable. It was a little hard to sleep in a suit.

We wouldn’t be back to New York for a couple of days, but since this is a connected flight, we were about to land in the next couple of hours in Toronto.

“Water, sir?”

I looked to my right to find a waitress, a glass of cold water in her hand.

I smiled, “Yes, thank you.”

She reflected my smile, placing the glass cup on the pop up tray in front of me before disappearing down the aisle.

I sat up and gripped the glass,

“Who am I kidding,” I thought, “I’ll never be able to sleep anyway.”

I took a sip before placing it back on the tray.

I looked to my left at Melinda, her eyes still surveying each cloud as they were cut by the aircraft’s wings.

Over the last couple of days, I thought it was safe to say that we had grown closer to each other. To be honest, the reasons for it weren’t exactly concrete, but I knew it had to do with Jason. Up until now, it felt as though he was the last knot holding our dysfunctional family together, but not anymore.

I could tell that Jason had noticed too. His smiles were bigger, he laughed more…-

“I want my money now!”

I jumped a little at the growing annoyance a couple aisles behind me.

Being on a first class plane, you hear all sorts of conversations.

The most interesting one was towards the back, where a man was being obnoxiously loud on his phone. He was conversing with someone about receiving his paycheck. I rolled my eyes. People really were too lustful nowadays.

There was only one thing I wanted to do at the moment.

I tapped Melinda’s shoulder. She looked away from the window,

“Yes?”

I just smiled, “Did I ever tell you how beautiful you look in green?”

I motioned at her emerald sheath dress.

She whipped her blonde hair back, smirking, “No… you haven’t.”

I grinned, “Well you do...look beautiful.”

I remembered that this kind of talk used to be common when we were in college together. Before we decided to start a marriage testing, multi-million dollar, press filled, Industry together.

Speaking like this now felt like wading into foreign waters, and I so desperately wanted to correct that.

Before we could come any closer, Melinda suddenly pointed at something behind me,

“Jackson, y-your water.”

I looked back, confused.

My eyes widened upon following Melinda’s gaze to my glass.

The water had turned a deep red shade, resembling vermilion with its intensity in color. My immediate thought was that the waitress had given me the wrong drink, but I knew for a fact that the liquid had been crystal clear just a moment earlier.

I poked the glass with my finger, watching as the rose color sloshed and turned in the cup. It looked like a kind of powder had been stirred into the water.

“That’s...strange.” I muttered, recalling a past memory.

One time, when I was at a conference in Dubai, someone had tried to poison my cup with something that looked like this (Definitely one of my top ten days at work).

When my hired Ember security guards caught the culprits, they assured me that those kinds of events were rare, but here I was, going through a similar phase.

I doubted anyone wanted to kill me that badly, no matter how many pizza chains I bought out, but it was hard to dismiss the possibility.

I was about to call the waitress back when a scream came from the back of the plane, startling me and Melinda.

It sounded like the same man that was on the phone.

“AHH! Someone! AH!”

I looked back at Melinda; her eyes were filled with confusion.

I gave her a small smile as chatter began to break out among the cabin, “I’ll be right back.”

I climbed out of my seat, heading towards the small crowd forming in the back of the plane. The crowd was just composed of three flight attendants.

“Sir,” One said, holding up his hand, “You shouldn’t be walking around at this time.”

I nodded, “Yes, but is he okay?”

“AAAAARGHAA!” The man shouted from behind the group.

That sound…it wasn’t natural.

Before I could ask another question, the plane began to shake violently.

I stumbled, grabbing onto a nearby seat to stay upright. I was about to apologize to whoever sat there, but the couple sitting on the row were asleep, their drinks now spilled onto the floor from the sudden turbulence. I couldn’t help but stare at the crimson stained drink tray beside the fallen cups.

Red drinks.

What was going on?

Passengers started to scream as the plane suddenly dipped, my body levitating for a solid second as I felt butterflies soar in my stomach.

But that’s not what scared me.

What scared me was the screaming man.

The flight attendants had backed up to where I was standing, watching the spectacle in front of them unfold in terror.

The alarms blaring through the cabin were no match for the horrid noises escaping the man’s mouth. The sounds of many glass cups shattering behind me did not compare to the loud ripping of the man’s clothes, his flesh, his…everything.

His body convulsed as blood was shot forth like a geyser from his mouth, falling onto one knee as his body seemed to grow in size. It took three more seconds for me to realize that there was nothing to question about what was happening; The man really was growing. Shredded skin tissue, discarded flesh, and mountains of blood were what could be described on the once alive human being, all of us plus everyone behind me releasing panicked gasps for air as the creature now stood taller than the pressurized plane’s roof.

Its back was hunched against the ceiling as the inhuman growls continued.

“AHHHHRHGHWAHRRR!” He...it yelled.

I backed up all the way to my seat, trying to stay conscious through the decreasing levels of oxygen available in the plane, “Melly, we have to-to get out of here!” I exclaimed, still staring at the monster in the back.

The plane shuttered and belched repeatedly, passengers screaming left and right. The pilot was trying to calm everyone down on the intercom, but it was having little to no effect. For some reason, I felt as if the monster in the back was somehow causing the plane’s dysfunction.

When I didn’t hear a response from Melinda, I quickly turned to look at her.

She wasn’t moving.

“NO!” I yelled, sliding into the window seat. I desperately shook my wife’s limp body.

She wouldn’t respond.

That’s when I noticed the blood.

Blood was dripping from her mouth and onto her verdant dress.

“Talk to me!” I ordered her, shaking her even more. Her body started to convulse, more and more blood coming from her mouth. It was exactly what was happening to…no.

I felt tears of frustration mixed with worry as I felt her pulse.

It wasn’t there.

“TALK TO ME!” I shouted again, sinking my head into her stomach.

She was..dead.

I could no longer hear the screams of people in the plane.

I could no longer hear the pilot yelling to brace.

I could no longer see the world clearly.

I could no longer feel the plane shake.

I could no longer feel Melinda’s heartbeat.

My wife’s heartbeat. My son’s mother’s heartbeat.

My heartbeat.

I, too, started to cough up blood, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care in the slightest. My wife was dead.

I held her body in my arms, rocking her slowly while feeling tears fall off my cheek.

I felt my heart start to give out as the plane started to dip even further.

More monsterish voices echoed all around while I felt my grip on life slowly fading.

I looked at Melinda once more, my head burning with a sudden fever.

More tears fell as I thought of Jason.

I managed to check my smartwatch, his picture in the background.

My amazing Jason.

Shaking. I feel shaking.

I hold body? I drop body.

No longer wife.

No longer husband.

Hungry…I'm hungry.

Falling fast. Too fast.

Covered in metal

I’m covered in metal.

Holes in the plane.

Water getting closer.

Brothers and Sisters all around.

All in plane.

All hungry.

Someone is calling me? Across the water. Far awayyy. We’ll…have to..swim thereee.