Final Destination

"Departure"


Hold me now
I'm six feet from the edge and
I'm thinking
That maybe six feet
Ain't so far down

"One Last Breath" by Creed

Have you ever been so completely and utterly sure that something bad is going to happen, but your rational thought process is telling you that it's just your imagination running wild? That's kind of how I felt when my high school biology class arrived at the airport. Ever since we all got off the bus, I've been feeling uneasy about this whole field trip.

My class from Cheevers High School had the highest average test scores in our grade, so the twenty something students, our teacher and several parent chaperones were being rewarded by going on a field trip from Boston to Orlando where we would spend a couple of days at Sea World. Purely for educational purposes mind you, but I was secretly really looking forward to all the fun we were going to have there as well. Zack, that's my twin brother, has been trying to convince me for days now to ride the scariest roller coasters with him. I was hesitant at first, but after doing a little research I felt a whole lot better about getting on one.

So yeah, here we are at the airport in the early hours of the evening. The sun is just starting to set behind a cloudy horizon, turning the heavens violent shades of pink and purple. We'd made our way through security with about thirty minutes to spare before boarding began. Thankfully we didn't have to check any bags, since we carried everything we'd need for the four day trip in our backpacks, or we really would have been pressed for time.

I found myself sitting in one of the several chairs at the gate next to my brother nervously wringing my hands and trying hard not to stare out the massive windows overlooking the tarmac. I knew I should have picked a seat facing into the terminal! My uneasiness could just be about flying I guess. Mom says we flew on a plane before when we were just kids, but I don't remember that. Sure they were safe and I…I had looked up the statistics after all…but still something was really bothering me.

"You ok Cody?" Zack asked me, his blue-green eyes looking me up and down. Was I ok? Not really. I felt jumpy as hell right now.

"I'm good," I lied. He shrugged and turned his gaze back to his Nintendo DS that he'd gotten as a birthday present. I stared at the floor, looking at the spot where the cheap blue carpet met the window in front of me, listening to the faint sounds of Zack's game. A flash of yellowish orange light reflected in the window caught my attention. I looked up and out at the tarmac, but saw nothing there. Everything appeared to be business as usual out there. Was I seeing things?

"Zack, did you see that?"

"See what?" He mumbled, concentrating hard on his game, barely paying me any mind.

"Never mind." It was probably nothing, just a ray of sunlight hitting the window or something. I returned to staring at the floor, tapping my feet gently against the carpet humming some of my favorite rock songs. They happened to be ones Zack liked too, so he wasn't much inclined to tell me to put a sock in it. Everything seemed just fine, but then something weird happened again…

Smoke filled my lungs, making my eyes tear up. I coughed, struggling to breathe properly. Then suddenly everything was normal again. I was still sitting next to my brother and he didn't seem to have noticed anything odd had happened. Hadn't he smelled the smoke too? I looked around slowly, not seeing any fires. Maybe is was someone who smoked a lot sitting near me and had the stuff all in their clothes? No, that wasn't possible...Everyone around me was wearing the white t-shits with our school mascot and name on them. Besides, it hadn't smelled like cigarette smoke anyway now that I thought about it. It was more like burning plastic. You know, that really acrid ozone smell?

"I think we're getting ready to board!" said a girls' voice from my other side. My girlfriend Barbara, who also happened to be an excellent student in my biology class, turned to me smiling. She was really looking forward to this trip. I stood up with the rest of our class as our teacher, Mr. Keller, started talking with the airline staff member who was about to announce something over the intercom. My legs felt like lead weights as we walked towards the gate, crowding around the airline staff getting ready to check our tickets.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, American Airlines Flight 7644 non-stop from Boston to Orlando will now begin pre-boarding. Parents with young children, people requiring assistance to board and the students on their field trip first please." In short order we were all walking down the ramp towards the plane. The lights dimmed drastically, almost casting all of us in darkness, but no one else seemed to notice. I glanced back over my shoulder towards the terminal and everything was normal again. The ramp was brightly lit and as I turned my gaze forward again, I saw a flight attendant standing just inside the boarding hatch of the plane welcoming us all aboard.

Shaking it off, I followed behind Zack as we made our way towards the coach section to find our seats. Suddenly the floor seemed to fall out from under me and then rushed back upwards, pitching me forward off balance. I crashed into Zack who domino'd into our best friend Bob. Bob managed to grab hold of a seat and throw his leg out to keep us all from face planting into the floor.

"What the? Cody?" Bob asked, looking back over his shoulder at me. Zack pushed me off of him and stood up, giving me a funny look.

"Sorry, tripped." There was no way to explain to them what I'd just felt.

"Man Codes you're clumsy! Come on, right here's good." Zack said indicating the row of seats ahead of us. I took the window seat and Zack plopped down in the middle seat next to me, with Bob on his left. Barbara went to sit with some of her friends and where Max had gone I wasn't sure. I hadn't really seen her since we'd gotten through security.

As Zack was stowing his backpack under the seat in front of him, the weirdness level went up again. The people I was watching board the plane had cuts and bruises on them with several of them bleeding from the head and nose. The cabin filled with smoke, the lights went out. Not again! I closed my eyes, it was just my imagination. It didn't help. I heard people screaming…horrible screams. The screams of people who are about to die…

When I opened my eyes again everything was back to normal, but I didn't want to look inside the plane anymore. Instead I glanced out the open window at the gate where we'd been waiting earlier. There was something wrong with that too…The massive window had been smashed inward, shards of glass littered the floor but the people sitting there waiting for the next flight casually reading their newspapers didn't seem to notice anything amiss. Then I saw him…

Staring back at me from the terminal was a young man with blond hair dressed in a while t-shirt with dark khaki pants. He was sitting up on the floor, looking like he'd just been thrown to the ground by whatever had smashed in the window. His mouth was agape in shock, his eyes fixed on a point far above my head. Now I knew I was seeing things. The only person who seemed to have noticed that the glass had been destroyed…It wasn't possible. It couldn't be him…

I shook my head, trying to forget what I'd seen and the next time I looked out the window, everything was whole again. I was getting a really bad feeling about this flight. The fasten seatbelt sign dinged and I went to put mine on, but then I noticed people were still boarding the plane. What the?

Flames suddenly appeared, racing their way down the roof of the cabin, headed right towards me. I panicked. I threw up my hands to shield my face. There was nothing else that I could do…Nothing happened.

"Cody???" Zack was looking at me strangely again. I lowered my arms. That's it. I've had it. Call me a wuss if you want, but I wasn't about to fly on this plane… I stood up, forgetting my bag under the seat. There was no time to get off the plane. The flight attendant by the hatch was calling back up to the terminal, making sure there were no last minute stragglers coming down…

"Where the hell are you going?" Zack demanded as I squeezed out of our row into the isle. Oh no! My brother…my friends…

"We have to get off this plane."

"What? Cody no, stop being stu…"

"NOW!" I cut him off, screaming at him at the top of my lungs. I had to get off this plane. We all had to! I ran down the aisle towards the hatch, ignoring the flight attendant at the back of the plane telling me to please take my seat.

"Whoa young man, please take your seat…" the attendant at the hatch cautioned me. I ignored not and tried pushing past her, but she grabbed me and pulled me back.

"I HAVE TO GET OFF!" I screamed at her, thrashing desperately to pull free.

"We're about to pull the ramp back, I'm sorry but you can't" the woman argued.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND! LET ME GO!" On the word go I started hearing the screams again. Smoke filled my nose. I heard a loud roaring and metallic whining noise that didn't sound good. It was all in my head, but it felt real. With a burst of superhuman strength, I pulled free of the woman and ran up the ramp back to the terminal.

"CODY WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Zack yelled at me. I heard his thudding footsteps on the ramp behind me. There was more than just him, other people were following. I reached the closed locked doors that led into the terminal and started pounding on them as hard as I could.

"LET ME OUT!" My voice was laden with fear and desperation. Had to get away! Had to get away! Zack crashed into me, pinning me to the door. Bob, Barbara and Max were trailing behind him, looking totally confused and concerned.

The door to the gate opened and my brother and I fell onto the floor. I tried to pull away and put as much distance between me and the plane as I could, but Zack wouldn't let me go. We rolled around on the floor for a minute before Bob finally pried me off Zack and put me into a bear hug from behind. I couldn't move. I was trapped.

"What…is…wrong…with…you?" Zack gasped for air from the exertion of restraining me. Apparently I'd given him a really good fight. Far more than he had ever thought me capable of.

"The plane isn't safe!" I cried, desperate for him to believe me. For anyone to believe me. I was hardly aware of the people staring at us or the airline employee's talking hastily on the phone, probably calling security.

"Nonsense. You're just afraid of flying. But did you have to pull a stunt like that Cody? They're gonna throw you off the plane. Mom's gonna be pissed, she was going out of town!"

"I'm not afraid of flying Zack! That plane isn't safe. I'm not getting on, and neither are any of you!" My tone had changed from pleading to a firm voice. Everyone stared at me…

"Cody…" Zack started to talk me down…

"No Zack. No. Please, just do this for me. Please big brother?" Then I broke down crying. I was so afraid, I wanted to be as far away from here as possible. I was so ashamed of myself for yelling and screaming at people who didn't deserve it. I wasn't quite sure when it had happened, but Bob released me and Barbara held me in her arms. She was trying to calm me down. Trying to comfort me. Bless her, she was such a wonderful person. I didn't deserve to have her.

Zack just stood there looking at me, saying nothing, his eyes full of concern. Bob and Max stood a ways off and let us have our moment. They were consequently the first ones to talk with airport security.

Some twenty minutes later I was still standing at the gate being questioned by the police. Our plane had long since pulled away and taxied out onto the runway, unable to make a full plane wait for just a few passengers whose friend had apparently freaked out about flying on a plane. The officers had asked me to take a seat, but I refused. Everything had first started when I sat down. I wasn't going to do that again.

Oh no…I saw the glare of orange light appear on the window again, except this time I wasn't the only one to see it. Screams, shouts and curses burst out from everyone around me. Everyone turned to look out the window. There, barely a hundred feet off the ground was a ball of fire rapidly expanding.

I watched in horror as the plane we should have been flying to Orlando on fell from the sky, its silvery hull being consumed by flame and thick black smoke. My heart raced as I watched the massive aircraft crash back to earth. The ground shook at the same time I heard a loud booming noise that made my ears pop and then the glass window looking out onto the tarmac exploded inward as a wave of overpressure slammed into it. I fell backwards onto my rear end, miraculously avoiding the deadly rain of glass that pelted the empty seats where I should have been sitting, had I listened to the officers.

There was a moment of silence as everyone looked on in horror at the flaming wreck on the ground. The only sounds to be heard were of distant alarms and several people sobbing. My class…they were all dead… My fellow students, a half dozen parents, my teacher and many more innocent people. All gone…Just like that. We had survived…Just us. Me, Zack, Bob, Barbara and Max. The sole survivors of a plane carrying nearly a hundred passengers.

My mind went numb and shut down…

Everything went black…

"Cody Martin. You and your companions have cheated death, and death doesn't like being cheated…"

Author's Note: Hey guys. Was kinda bored working on my other stories and this idea just hit me all of a sudden after being idle background noise for a month or so. It's my first Suite Life fic written in First Person. Please rate and review, because I could really use some constructive critiscm on this. Never really do much writing in the first person. Not sure where I'll take this, so keep an eye out. I'm ignoring any flights the twins have taken during the Suite Life as I want Zack and Cody to be first time flyers (or close enough to it) in this story. Peace out!

P.S. The first reviewer to spot the Easter egg in this story gets a shout out next time around! It's a connection between this story and one of my other ones.