Chapter 1
Ethan gazed outside the small window of the plane, his eyes exploring every inch of the sky. White fluffy clouds peppered the blue sky. He could see the ocean. The marvelous, vast ocean. It seemed like a shiny sheet of blue. Even though this bird's eye view of the world was something everyone should see, Ethan hated flying, not to mention he hated planes as well. He could never understand why some people could feel comfortable hovering thousands of feet in the air. That fact alone made him uneasy, but it was necessary for Ethan to board planes. His parents were divorced; they wanted to be as far apart as they could be. So, they acted on their desires; his father moved to Moscow, Russia and Ethan's mother stayed in Los Angeles, California, where he was born. He flew to and fro every week; seeing each parent for six days. It was stressful for Ethan, but, unfortunately, he had no say on the matter.
Ethan ran his hand through his brown locks, waiting impatiently in his seat. He couldn't sleep— but then again, he never could during these flights. He was too busy being worried. Whenever he had closed his eyes, all he saw were images of a plane plummeting out of the sky. The very thought was terrified him. His sister, Naomi, to his disbelief, loved these scheduled flights. To her, the sight of the sky was relaxing, and comforting. She loved it— she practically couldn't get enough of it. Her disappointment was obvious when the plane wheels touched the earth.
The brown haired boy looked to his left, and observed his sister. She had blond hair, resembling their mother, that reached her shoulders. Her face was gentle and pale— it seemed to be so fragile. And yet, her eyes, they were a harsh, stormy grey. Ethan and Naomi practically had nothing in common with each other, appearance-wise. The only thing that Ethan and his sister shared, however, were a pair of grey eyes.
Naomi looked over to Ethan and tilted her head, giving him a questioning look. Her brow was wrinkled in thought. "What is it? Why're you staring at me, weirdo?" she said. Ethan smiled— she was still as awful as ever.
"Nothing, I was just checking to see if you were awake," he responded. Ethan loved his sister, as a brother should love a sister, but sometimes he questioned his love for her. Did he really love her or did he just feel obligated to love her because they were related? This wasn't the first time the question came up in his mind. It usually happened a lot during these long flights. They've been through a lot together— to hell and back. She was there for him when his's dog died. He was there for her when her first boyfriend cheated on her. He comforted her and kicked that two-timer's ass. She was there when Ethan was caught up in a gang back in Russia. She set him straight. She was there when Ethan got into a knife fight. He had asked her not to tell mom or dad— she never did. They were there for each other when their parents got divorced.
Ethan's train of thought was interrupted by an amplified voice; it came through the intercom. "Attention, Mr. and Mrs. Alk, we are currently flying over Georgia. We are about three hours away from Los Angeles." The voice always addressed Ethan and Naomi personally. It wasn't unusual; they were in a private jet owned by their father. They were the only passengers aboard the aircraft, albeit the armed bodyguard. Why was it necessary to have an armed bodyguard on this plane, Ethan would never know. Apparently, their dad thought it was a necessary thing to have aboard.
"Thank God! We're almost home!" Ethan sighed. This plane ride could not get any worse.
"Do you really hate spending time alone with me so much that you have to proclaim it?" Naomi retorted, her stormy grey eyes full of anger and sadness.
"What? No, I just— you know what I meant," he said in exasperation as he tried to explain to her what he had meant.
"Look, I don't care! Just leave me alone, okay?" Her gaze fell to the ground, several strands of hair shielding her face. Ethan didn't know where that came from. It seemed like all of her welled up emotions— the things she had never let out, finally let themselves out. Not all of it; only just a little. Her composure slipped, which was highly unlike her. Naomi was never the one to share her true feelings with somebody else. She usually just kept to herself most of the time. An awkward silence filled the plane. After a moment, she sighed, and looked at Ethan, staring into his eyes. "Sorry about that. I jus—"
"No, I get it. You just needed to let some anger out. It would be weird if you didn't after all you've been through. I don't know how you could even handle me. I'm always getting into trouble and making a mess of things. It was rough. And to make it worse, mom and dad divorced." Ethan had sometimes felt sorry for his younger sister. She'd seen so much in her thirteen years of life than most do in forty. "I do love you, sis. You can be sure of that."
"Thanks. I—" Her sentence was disrupted by shaking. The plane started to shake violently, making Ethan panic. The intensity of the shake was so powerful, it made him dizzy. He quickly buckled his seatbelt, breathing erratically. The terrified teen glanced at his sister, who was gripping at the arms of her chair for dear life. He looked around, only seeing the guard. He yelled to him.
"Hey! You! What's going on?" Ethan yelled. The guard clumsily climbed out of his seat, struggling to make his way over to Ethan and Naomi. He held onto everything that he could during his way to them.
"I'm not sure, sir. I'll check." The large man stumbled along, occasionally dropping to the ground from the sheer force of the turbulence. He reached the door that led to the where the pilot and his co-pilot were located. The door was white and windowless. Nothing could be heard from the other side. The man knocked on the door. Once, twice, three times. He received no answer. His hand clutched the handle to the metallic door. The guard twisted the handle and opened the door. As soon as he opened the door, a body flew out the door, crashing into him. The body was covered in blood, and even more of the dark red liquid was pouring out of the fresh gashes of the body's exposed skin. "Oh my God, what the hell!" he yelled. Ethan could see the terror in the man's eyes. He quickly pushed the body off of him, struggling to stand. The guard drew a shaky breath, then looked toward Ethan. "This is the co-pilot," he said to Ethan and his sister, gesturing to the body on the ground.
'The co-pilot's dead? ' Ethan thought. He could only assume. Ethan was no expert in the medical field, but anybody with a brain could tell that the guy on the ground wasn't going to stand up and walk anytime soon. "Naomi. I'll handle this. Stay here," Ethan said. He didn't want to move from the seat at all, but seeing how scared his sister looked gave him a sense of big brother obligation. She was paler than usual. Naomi was shivering; not from the cold temperatures, no, but from fear. She nodded her head quickly, not daring to do anything more.
"Where else would I go?" Her voice came at a whisper. Even when she was scared out of her wits, she still managed to make a sarcastic remark.
Ethan nodded back, then slowly unbuckled his seatbelt. He got up from his seat, grabbing things so he wouldn't fall. He made his way to the guard, and stood behind him, gesturing to the door. Getting the point, the man walked through the door, and Ethan followed inside.
Inside the cockpit, Ethan would see something he would never be able to unsee— something he would never get over; a thing so absolutely terrifying, so disgusting, so horrible that the the young teen would always see when he would close his eyes. Inside the cockpit, the guard and Ethan found the pilot of the plane and the stewardess— or what was left of her. The pilot was plunging his hands inside the woman's stomach, pulling out blood covered intestines, and then proceeding to stuff the woman's insides into his mouth. Ethan was in complete shock. At first he thought that the pilot was a cannibal, but he soon saw how naive he was.
The guard was also shocked. "What are you doing!?" he cried. The pilot lifted his head away from the woman, looking at his next two meals. The pilot stood up, then lurched towards them. He was fast, his movements abrupt, unsteady, and random. It was impossible to predict where he was going to move. In a matter of seconds, the pilot tackled the guard. They fell, and managed to pin Ethan under the guard who was under the pilot. Hearing screams come from the bodyguard, Ethan struggled to see what was happening. The pilot had ripped a chunk out of the guard's neck. Ethan tried his best to hold in his gags when the guard's screams stopped suddenly, and he went limp on top of Ethan. The teen desperately tried to push the two men off him, but to no avail.
"Holy shit!" Ethan yelled. This in turn, caused the pilot to direct his attention to the boy. It hissed, a vile sound coming from it's mouth. Ethan panicked— surely, if it killed the stewardess, the guard, and possibly the co-pilot, it would kill him. And then his sister. The thought drove him over the edge. He wouldn't die here, not now. And neither would Naomi. He looked for something to defend himself with— a sharp object, a pipe, anything. The pilot edged closer to Ethan's face. Then something caught his eye. On the guard's waist, there was his weapon. The very thing that was supposed to protect him and his sister. A gun. He reached for the gun, his fingers straining to touch it. His fingertips touched the leather holster that it was kept in. He quickly unbuckled the holster, gripping the gun. He slide the weapon out of it's compartment, and pointed it at the pilot. "I'm warning you! I'll shoot!" The teen tried to reason, but the pilot was unphased. The brown haired teen pressed the pistol against his attacker's forehead. "Please! Stop!" The pilot continued to hiss, the blood and flesh between it's teeth dropping on Ethan's face. Ethan pulled the trigger, the bullet shot through the pilot's forehead, creating a hole the size of a quarter which followed all the way through his head.
With a shaky breath, Ethan desperately tried to move the two bodies. A familiar pale set of hands reached down, grabbing the shirt of the co-pilot. The hands belonged to Naomi, who moved the first body off of Ethan. Ethan was surprised. Before, her state had clearly showed that she was scared, but now, she seemed like a different person. 'I guess everyone changes when someone's intestines are digested.' Ethan's stomach twisted at the thought of the disgusting memory. "Thanks." Ethan said.
"Don't mention it. Seriously, don't. I never want to think about that again. Ever." Her emphasizing tone of the word 'ever' meant that she was serious. Obviously. Her face was a light shade of green, instead of her usual pale color, and her forehead was sweaty. In short, she looked like she was about to be sick. Ethan could only relate. He, himself, felt like blowing chunks. This sight before Naomi and he was gruesome. It didn't smell too good either. Pushing the remaining body off himself, Ethan hoisted himself up from the ground.
"Are you okay?" Ethan asked.
"What do you think? I just witness a man rip a woman's stomach open and eat her like a frickin' birthday cake, and then continue to chomp on another man's neck for a second serving." She was tense, and the plane's turbulence didn't help. "We need to get out of here."
"Well, have you recently learned how to fly a plane? 'Cause I don't see how th—" Ethan's sentence was cut short. A low growl came from behind Ethan. Turning around, he aimed the gun to whatever made the sound. Ethan's eyes widened in surprise, slowly lowering his pistol. "I saw you lose part of your neck. How are you even moving?"
The sound had come from the, now upright, guard, who still had a large chunk missing from his neck. Behind the guard, there was the stewardess, the contents of her stomach falling to the ground. "Oh crap" said Ethan, shaking with fear. He raised his gun quickly, firing a shot at the guard. It hit the man in the stomach, and it continued to stumble it's way to Ethan, unphased. Ethan's eyes widened in surprise. He shot again, the again, then again, the once more. He aimed the gun at the guard's forehead. "Walk away from this." Ethan said, pulling the the trigger. In a moment the guard was on the ground, his lifeless body stiff. The second...'thing', made it's way to Ethan. To call it human would be stupid. He aimed at the thing's forehead. And pulled the trigger. Instead of a ear piercing boom, Ethan was given a small click sound. "Click". The gun was out of bullets.
"S-shit" Naomi said, taking a step back.
Ethan thought quickly, frantically looking around. He saw the exit behind them. He also spotted a steel case attached to the wall. The words: 'Safety Equipment' painted in dark red. The creature lurched forward in an attempt to grab the teen. Ethan side stepped, dashing to the steel case. He opened it quickly, grabbing two objects. He ran back to his sister, grabbed her, and, with no hesitation, opened the door and jumped out the plane.
TO BE CONTINUED...