Slowly, Jeanie became aware of her surroundings. She was still in the bathroom, and her three children were still gathered in her arms. The floor was severely tilted; the door was hanging open and she looked out into an empty aisle.
Confusedly, she stumbled to her feet, pulling her children up with her. Thankfully, they were awake, appeared to be quite healthy, and were taking in their surroundings with wide-open eyes. After checking on Sean-sound asleep in the backpack carrier—she grabbed hold of their hand and they fought their way against gravity to the door, from where there was an aisle which led to the far back of the plane. Everything that should have been at the end of the aisle was missing.
Jeanie braced herself against the door, staring down the steep aisle. Janie turned to face the girls who were leaning against the wall. When you get out there, slide to the ground—just like at the park at home. OK?
The girls nodded and, after a brief argument as to who would have to go first, Alicia stepped to the door. Jeanie held her hand till she had centered herself and had nodded. As Jeanie let go, Alicia began her rapid descent, screaming the whole way. Just as she reached the bottom, a figure appeared out of nowhere and scooped her up before she hit the ground.
Alicia's screams escalated, and Jeanie called down to the stranger, "She's deaf, she can't here you.
"Can you catch my other daughter? She's coming down." With that, she sent Catherine on her way as well. A few minutes later, after Alicia and Catherine were calmed, Jeanie called down to the stranger.
"Thank-you for your help. Do you know if there is anyway that I can get down without sliding? I have a baby with me."
A man's voice called up to her. "I think that if you are really careful, the seats should suffice as a makeshift ladder. Do you want me to come up and help you?"
'Uh, no," Jeanie called back, "that's OK. Just keep an eye on the girls and be ready to catch any falling being." Then she slowly began her descent as well.
Five minutes later, a shook Jeanie reached bottom. She was determined to never climb next to dead bodies like that ever again. "Thank-you," she said, sticking her out to their rescuer, "I'm Jeanie. These are my daughters Christine and Alicia, and this is my son, Sean."
He shook her hand. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Fred."
"Fred," she smiled in greeting. "Is there anyone else, or are we the only…survivors?"
"Actually, no." He smiled. "There are 13 others. With you four, there's seventeen of us." He moved aside, letting Jeanie see outside were people were milling about, lost and confused.
Just then, one of them, dressed as a flight attendant, came up. "Fred," she said, "we need to get a shelter. Night's coming, and there's going to be a lot of animals out and about." Then, as if noticing Jeanie for the first time, she smiled. "Hi, I'm Nancy."
"Jeanie. These are my children, Christine, Alicia, and Sean. Can we be of any help?"
Nancy smiled. "Not right now—we're just trying to regroup ourselves and figure out what's happening. If you want to go over there," she pointed to where the majority of the people were standing, "Micah—the tall one—is taking a census."
Jeanie nodded, and re-grasping her daughters' hands, headed over to the crowd.
At about 5 o'clock, the group of survivors moved back to the shelter of the plane. "We don't know what's out there," Fred reasoned, "so for now, I think that it would be best—safest—if we all stayed together in here."
Jeanie had agreed with his reasoning—though she knew that within a few days, the bodies would begin to smell—until that night. Fred was the only other one awake, and she would have joined the legion of the sleeping had Sean not begun to fuss. Just as she managed to hush him, though, she heard a crashing sound in the jungle, followed by a high-pitched screech and more crashing.
Her pulse quickened by anxiety, she crept over to Fred, who was sitting crouched by the entrance, watching the small fire. "What is it?" she whispered, peering into the dark.
He shook his head. "I don't know," he whispered, "but I don't like it—whatever it is." They looked in silence out into the black night as what sounded like trees crashed to the jungle floor, and the screeching continued. By this time, several others had also awoke, and a nervous hum rang throughout the plane. Shortly, though, the strange sounds subsided and everybody fell uneasily back to sleep.
The next morning, the mysterious beast was the talk of the camp, and shortly everybody had come to the same conclusion—whatever it was, it wasn't safe. According to Nancy—who told everybody that the plane had crashed a thousand miles off course, and that there was no way to call for help—their safest bet to be rescued was to find a way to the coast. Everybody gathered their meager belongings, and the ragged troop began their journey to the beach.