1"Your sister," he grinned at her. Lisa gasped and stared at him as they made their way onto the plane and sat down.
"What the fuck have you done to her?" she cried. Jackson laughed and buckled up.
"Nothing yet," malice filled his voice. "And nothing will as long as you cooperate."
"What's your plan now?" she moaned, leaning her head back as the plane took off.
"Well, the people who wanted Keefe dead aren't happy, to say the least," he muttered. "So. Here's the deal. I know for a fact that you talk to him still quite a bit. I also know that he told you he's visiting London this week. You know what hotel he's staying at, and you are going to tell me or your sister, what's her name, Chelsi, goes bye-bye," Lisa gaped at him.
"You've got some time," Jackson leaned his head back against the seat.
Lisa looked out the window and her thoughts drifted to Chelsi. Her younger, sixteen year old sister, she'd always been the tomboy. She always wore her light brown hair in a ponytail, and her tall, slim figure was perfect for basketball. She was quiet to those who didn't know her, but had an amazing sense of humor that brightened Lisa up on her darkest of days.
Lisa sighed and let herself drift to sleep.
Meanwhile in London, very different events were unfolding.
"That was more than a heartbeat," Jim whispered, and soon was engulfed in kisses from Selena.
Suddenly he felt a crack on his head and fell back, cursing. Hannah, the fourteen-year-old orphan, stared at him. Her eyes held a strange look.
"I thought you were biting her!" she cried.
"I was kissing her," Jim argued. He looked closer. "Are you stoned?"
"Long story," Selena rushed Jim and Hannah from the house.
The evening culminated as Jim was shot in the chest. His thoughts were put on hold as he suddenly shot up in bed.
The gunshot on his abdomen ached as he jerked up. He breathed in and got dressed. He'd had this dream often of that memory three weeks ago.
The plane had never stopped to rescue them. It had turned, then flown right past them. Their hopes had dropped and they still lived in the old stucco house by the lake.
Jim stumbled downstairs and saw Selena. He smiled at her as she cooked dinner. They'd had somewhat of a rocky relationship. He was starting to think that he no longer cared for her in that way...they were just too different. Jim thought Selena maybe felt the same way. After all, dodging the infected probably wasn't the best way to fall in love.
The infected came often to their home, but the trio stayed, believing that of all places it was the safest.
Lisa woke up as the cabin lights were turned on.
"How are we landing?" she remembered something.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Jackson snapped.
"They aren't landing planes in England," she whispered. "Because of the infection."
"Oh, the "rage"," he said the name of the disease mockingly. "An over-dramatized ordeal. We're not landing at the airport. We're making a private landing."
Looking around the plane, Lisa suddenly noticed it was a private jet.
"Jackson, I've heard bad things, we shouldn't land," she cried. "My sister called the week it began, before power was cut. I don't even know where she is now. How do you know Keefe is even going to be there?"
"We're going to land, Leese," Jackson rolled his eyes as the plane began its bumpy descent. "Keefe is on a politician World Summit tour."
Lisa gulped. This was not going to be good.
The plane finally landed on a cleared patch of land. Lisa released her breath and unbuckled. Jackson picked her up and carried her from the plane.
They had landed next to a barn. Two of his associates stumbled behind him.
Lisa squinted past the barn as something lurched in their direction. A human, possibly, but Lisa had never seen a human move like that.
"What the hell-" Jackson saw it too. As it moved closer, Lisa got a better look at it. She pulled herself to shaky feet and tried to awkwardly stumble away from Jackson, but he seized her arm.
It indeed was a human, but its face was gaunt and bloodstained, its eyes a creepy red. Lisa cried out. She knew by the description her sister had given her what it was. It was an infected.