Diamond Sylvia Gold sat in her private jet, her French manicured fingers flipping through her Cosmo magazine. She had a virgin daiquiri in front of her, and her diamond encrusted phone next to it. She was dressed casually for the flight, in a Temperley London primrose floral dress and her Giuseppe Zanotti black heeled sandals. Her Burberry trenchcoat sat on the seat next to her, along with her clutch. A fourteen carrot white gold and diamond pendant sat on her throat, a gift from her mother.
The only other people on the plane were her brother and friend Sloane. Dalton was her twin, and he sat casually ahead of her, jamming to his music. Sloane sat directly across from her, her black manicured nails flipping through a Vogue magazine. Sloane's dad worked with Diamond's in the Senate, so they had been friends at a young age. Her mother was the French ambassador, and was also a descendant of the Kennedys.
Diamond's mother, however, was not in politics. She owned her own line of famous jewelry, the Gold Collection. The pendant Diamond wore was one of her mother's designs, made specifically for her. She was named after her mother's three favorite materials - diamonds, silver, and gold. Her mother's sister, Aunt Gretchen, was a popular clothing designer. She was always sending Diamond designer clothes and asking her to be her model - she was perfect for it; with her tall, slim figure, marvelous bone structure, pale blonde hair, and light blue eyes.
She sighed, having reached the end of her Cosmo. She got up and tapped her twin's shoulder. "Where are we?"
"I think we just got into Colorado." He put his headphones in, a clear dismissal.
She pursed her lips, returning to her seat reluctantly. They were making the trip from New York to California on vacation, and she was excruciatingly bored. "Trade?" Sloane asked, handing out her Vogue.
Diamond smiled. "You're a lifesaver." Sloane was the only friend Diamond had that she genuinely liked. She had a large clique, of course, full of celebrities, models, and other rich kids, of course. But most of them were fake bitches, and she didn't need to waste her precious time on their problems when she could be out getting a Mani Pedi.
She scrolled through the pages of Vogue, dreaming of the day when her face would be on the cover. She looked over at Sloane, who was holding hands with Dalton, sitting right in front of her. She grimaced, she couldn't help being disgusted by the best-friend-and-brother situation. Sloane and Dalton had despised each other up until a couple months ago, when something Diamond tried not to think about happened at a party. Diamond personally thought they were a horrible couple, but she tried to be supportive.
Tired of having nothing to do but watch the nasty scene beside her, she got up and headed to the front of the plane. She stepped in through the curtain, and instantly grinned. Why hadn't she come up here before? The pilot was young - and cute. She went instantly into flirtation mode. "Hey," she said huskily. "So, how long do we have to go?" She sat down on the empty co-pilot's seat.
The captain didn't look her way. "Still aways, Miss. Maybe you should go back to your seat."
She didn't give up. "But I want to talk to you."
He glanced over, and she saw his eyes widen before he returned his gaze to the sky. "Miss Gold -"
She cut of his dismissing tone. "Oh, please, call me Diamond - or even Di. So tell me, how does a young guy like you become such a skilled pilot?"
"Um," he looked flustered. "I mean, I just graduated from flight school..."
"You must have been really good," she insisted.
"I don't really..." He shook his head as if to clear it. "Miss, you have to return to your seat. Now."
Diamond pouted, but could see that he wasn't going to change his mind. With a sigh, she left and collapsed back into her seat. The constant vacations and flights were making them that much more tedious. She grabbed her phone, deciding to text her father. She groaned, and Sloane looked over. "What's up, Di?"
Diamond held up her iPhone. "No fucking service." She looked out the window, plopping her head on her hand. "Whoa, wait," she said more loudly. "Are we getting closer to the ground? Dalton?"
Her brother looked at her, concerned. She and Sloane followed as he made his way up to the front. "Hey," he demanded of the cute captain. "Why are we descending?"
"Calm down," the pilot said reasonably. "I'm not getting a radio signal."
Diamond wasn't sure what that meant, but Dalton freaked out. "Calm down? What the hell are you doing?"
"We're going to land, sir," the captain snapped. "Now all of you sit down or prepare for the landing." He pointed to the small runway located in a big field. They could see people walking around close to it, wearing pilot uniforms and security clothes.
Dalton stubbornly sat down in the copilot's seat, so Diamond and Sloane stood in the back as the pilot pulled the plane. It was pretty bumpy, so Diamond was relieved when the plane began its drive down the runway.
When finally they had come to a complete stop, the pilot got up irritatedly. "Come on. You guys can sit inside while I see if I can get ahold of someone from here." He reached out and pulled open the door.
Before Diamond even knew what was happening, Sloane let out an ear piercing scream. She looked around wildly, and saw that a group of the security officers and pilots were standing at the door. Except...they weren't officers or pilots. They weren't even human. Their skin sagged and was a dull gray color, their eyes glossed over. They snapped their blackened jaws, letting out gutteral snarls.
Diamond joined Sloane's screaming as the things grabbed hold of the pilot, and pulled him to them. The first one close enough latched its teeth into his arm, tearing and digging into it. Like a car crash, it was sickening, and yet she couldn't look away. Dalton, with a flash of adrenaline, shot forward and slammed the door shut.
Sloane's back slammed into the hard wall of the airplane. She looked at her hands, the usually tan skin was pale and she was shaking uncontrollably. What the hell had she just seen?
"What the..." Di's voice trailed off and she crumpled to the ground.
Sloane ignored her friend as Dalton pulled her up. She pushed the sliding shade up from the window, earlier Sloane had put them all down, complaining she was hot. What ever the things were outside were swarmed everywhere, all over the runway that was scattered with planes.
"What is going on?" she gasped, her throat beginning to close up in panic.
"Calm down," Dalton said gruffly as he forced Di into a sitting position. "It has to be a prank."
"I don't think so," she said warily, gazing at the puddle of blood that was seeping around the feet of the gathering of creatures, presumably from the captain.
"I say we kill ourselves," Sloane muttered.
"I don't even know what to think," Dalton said in exasperation.
"We can't stay in here forever," Sloane pointed out. The things were scratching at the door and windows, moaning in a horrible way.
"Where the fuck are we supposed to go?" Dalton snapped.
"Stop being such an ass!" Sloane countered. "I'm not sitting around in here, waiting to die."
She slammed open the door to the mini fridge and pulled out all the meat she could find. It didn't amount to much, just some caviar, a stack of lunch meat, and the remains of the filet Dalton had insisted on bringing. "Catch you on the flip side."
"Wait!" Dalton said just as she was about to open the door. "You don't have any supplies."
"For what?" Sloane put her free hand on her hip. "I'm finding someone and they are taking me home."
Sloane could picture it now, lying on the sandy beach at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port. Her mother, RFK's granddaughter, had full access to the luxurious getaway, and Sloane always had an amazing time with her cousins and family on their yacht. The Buchanan's had multiple homes, one in New York, one in DC, and one in Calabasas, but her favorite place to spend time was the amazing sprawl on the Massachusetts coastline.
"I don't think their is anyone who can," Dalton said grimly.
"Oh, shut up. This can't be real, and if it is do you think everyone got this in the 10 hours we were in the air?" Sloane inquired.
"Yeah, I do actually. And how will you get past them?" Dalton asked. He pointed to her wine colored J Mendel maxi skirt, Chanel gladiators, and black boatneck.
"Shit!" All the bags were under the plane and there was no way she would have enough time to get to other clothes. Sloane furrowed her eye brows before yanking down her skirt, leaving her in just black lace underwear. Half her butt hung out, but with bare feet and legs she was sure she could outrun the seemingly slow creatures.
"Are you two coming or not?" Sloane asked, waving in the direction of Di, who was beginning to stir.
"I'm scared," Di whimpered.
"Don't worry, you'll be safe with me," Dalton said softly, earning a gag from Sloane.
"Why don't you two get a room and I'll be on my way."
Dalton rolled his eyes. "Sloane, please, wait for us."
Sloane looked out the window while Dalton gathered Di. Her thoughts ran wild. Why had this happened? She had always laughed with her friends about what would happen if zombies were real, and Sloane had always come to the conclusion she would shoot herself. Unfortunately, there were no guns on board, one of her father's rules. So, Sloane would have to stick it out.
"Let's go," Dalton's voice sounded, clearing the deep fog of her thoughts. He had a lamp in one hand and Di's arm in the other.
"You lead the way," she insisted as the trio stood timidly by the door.
"No way, Hitler. You're the boss here, and the leader."
"Shut up, Dalton, you have the only weapon."
Her boyfriend thrust the lamp into her hand. Sloane shivered and glared at him. "Fine, I hope I die right in front of you."
She thought she heard him mutter So do I, but his snippy remark was cut off as she swung open the plane door.
The creatures were moaning and staggering around, distracted by the mangled body of the pilot. Sloane swallowed down a gag and flung the meat she held in her hand away from the plane, earning the straggler's attention.
She swung as hard as she could at a middle aged woman's head. Her brown hair was limp and caked with blood. Her eyes were bloodshot, and a chunk of meat was stuck in between her rotting teeth. The lamp caused the whole top of her head to crumple and slide off, and another shot had the woman laying on the ground, motionless.
Sloane screeched in disgust and sprinted across the open runway field. Planes were scattered randomly and the creatures could be seen slamming their dead bodies up against the small plane windows.
Her eyes locked in in the pine forest in front of her, Sloane sprinted as fast as possible. She could feel her butt jiggling in her underwear, but she didn't have the time to care.
The sound of the creatures moans was fading and she and the twins made it to the forest line. Sloane leaned against a tree and gasped for breath. She wasn't especially athletic, just doing Pilates with her personal trainer to keep up her perfect figure.
"Now what?" Di panted.