Chapter 5
Leaving for China
Las Vegas, several hours later
The Cessna that Robert and the others were flying swooped in low over the remains of the Vegas Strip.
A massive chasm at least a half-mile wide had opened up through the Strip. Robert continued on until they reached McCarran International Airport.
After landing, they noticed that the tarmac was in chaos as a result of the quake that had struck the area.
After they got out, they heard an announcement over the loudspeakers: "Attention, the National Guard has informed us that an extremely hazardous ash cloud is headed for Las Vegas. Everyone move indoors immediately." the announcement stated.
All at once, everyone on the tarmac, including Robert and the others, raced for the terminal.
On board Air Force One, Situation Room.
"So you have positive confirmation on this? Thank you, I understand." Carl said as he ended a call on his cell phone.
Adrian then entered the room. "President's not coming." he said grimly. At those words, everyone turned to look at him.
"So, the captain doesn't want to abandon his sinking ship. That's his choice, and a noble one. I have also just learned that the vice-president's chopper went down in the ash cloud outside of Pittsburgh. Fortunately, we have protocols to follow." Carl announced.
"What about the Speaker of the House?" Adrian asked. "I have no idea. Where is he?" Carl replied.
"He's the commander in chief now, sir." Adrian replied.
"I don't know what to tell you, this is one flight he shouldn't have been late for. Tell the captain we're taking off." Carl replied.
"Sir, you don't have the authority." Adrian yelled.
"Who's got the authority? You've got the authority? You couldn't even keep your goddamn mouth shut! You betrayed top-secret information last year and could have had us all killed." Carl said.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Adrian replied.
"You told your father everything, put this entire plan in jeopardy. Good thing for you the old man could keep his mouth shut better than you. Oh, come on, don't look so shocked, we had to monitor everybody who knew. How do you think we kept it a secret for so long?" Carl said.
"So we just killed anybody who tried to talk?" Adrian asked, angered. "Anybody who tried to talk was not just an enemy of the state, they're an enemy of humanity." Adrian replied.
"The director of the Louvre was an enemy of humanity!" Adrian replied, enraged.
"After he called a press conference, he was! Jesus, what did you think? We're all just gonna get on board, hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya'? Sit down and buckle up!" Carl replied, ending the argument.
Laura got up from her seat and looked around to see an Air Force technical sergeant walking by.
"Oh, excuse me, is my father in the command center?" she asked. "President's on the line, Dr. Wilson." the technical sergeant replied.
"Thank you." Laura replied. Her heart sank as she picked up the phone.
"Where are you?" she asked. "You never would have gotten on that plane if I told you." President Wilson replied.
"But, you said that you'd be-" Laura began before she was cut off. 'Darling, listen to me. Do you understand how much strength it gives me knowing that you'll survive? The only thing left to do now is tell the truth to people. At least if they know, families can say goodbye to each other. A mother could comfort her children, and a father can ask his daughter for forgiveness." Wilson said.
Laura sobbed as tears streaked down her face. "Whenever you're ready, Mr. President." Sally said.
President Wilson then prepared to address the people. "My fellow Americans, this will be the last time I address you. As you know, catastrophe has struck our nation, has struck the world. I wish I could tell you that we could prevent the coming destruction, we cannot. Today, none of us are strangers. Today, we are one family stepping into the darkness together. We are a nation of many religions, but I believe these words reflect the spirit of all of our faiths: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall-" The president's address was cut off as broadcasting stations went dead.
Robert and the others were watching the presidential address in the terminal when it was cut off. "People! Keep away from the doors and windows!" a firefighter instructed.
"What are we gonna do? Where are we gonna go?" Cornelia asked.
Just then, a familiar voice called out for them. Robert and the others looked to see Taranee standing several feet away. "TARANEE!" Irma, Cornelia and Elyon shouted as they ran towards her.
Irma was in tears by the time she hugged Taranee. " I'm so glad to see you again! I thought you all were dead!" Taranee said as everyone composed themselves over their excitement.
"We thought the same thing about you, Will and all them!" Cornelia replied.
"Last time I heard from you guys, you were still in Heatherfield, and then I heard about what happened and, how did you all get out?" Taranee asked, still shocked yet glad to see most of her friends still alive.
"Robert here flew us out in a Cessna." Elyon replied.
"Hey, have you heard anything about Will, or Hay Lin, or anybody else?" Cornelia asked. "I did, they're all dead." Taranee replied as she started to cry.
"Hey, it's OK, at least we're still alive. That's what matters, that's what they would have wanted: for us to survive." Irma said as she comforted Taranee.
Just then, a voice called out for Taranee. "Over here!" Taranee yelled.
Seconds later, Nigel ran up to them. "Good to see you all made it, too!" he said.
"Yeah, but we wouldn't have made it out without Robert, he's the one who flew us out." Caleb replied.
"You can fly?" Nigel asked. "Yeah, I definitely can; I told you I'm a hell of a pilot." Robert replied.
Irma and the others explained their plan to get to the safe area in China. "How are we going to get there?" Taranee asked.
"I have an idea, there's a fully fueled 767 parked at a gate near here. I can fly it, but I'll need a co-pilot." Nigel said.
"I'll do it, besides, you and I are the only ones who can, so I pretty much have no option." Robert replied.
"Okay, let's do it!" Irma said. They rushed out towards the flightline.
"Hey! Hey, stop! You can't go out there, come back!" a firefighter shouted as Robert and the others rushed towards the aircraft.
They reached the ramp where the aircraft was parked, it was a Continental Airlines 767, fully fueled and ready to fly.
"This will work, I flew all the way to Japan in one of these." Robert said as they went up the boarding stairs and into the cabin.
Robert followed Nigel into the cockpit while the others took seats in the first class section. Nigel began turning on the systems while Robert began the start-up process.
Robert the turned on the radios and navigation system. "Tower to Continental 2464 heavy, what the hell are you doing? Shut down immediately!" the tower controller said.
The plane taxied out to the nearest runway, running over the boarding stairs in the process, as Robert turned on the seatbelt sign (force of habit). Robert lowered the flaps to takeoff position while Nigel pushed the thrust levers to full power.
"Continental 2464 heavy, abort takeoff, you do not have clearance!" the ATC said. "Fuck the clearance, we're out of here!" Robert said as the plane began to pick up speed.
"You must abort, I repeat, you must abort, you- NOO!" the ATC continued saying until the ash cloud destroyed the tower.
Suddenly, the plane jolted as it hit a damaged section of the runway. "What the hell was that?" Robert asked. I don't know, but it's not good!" Nigel replied.
They were horrified to see that part of the runway had fallen into the chasm. Hang on!" Nigel said as the plane went over the edge at 135 knots.
"We're going down, we're going down!" Robert said. The plane finally got enough airspeed to start climbing into the air.
"Hang on, everyone!" Nigel said over the intercom as the others held on.
Robert and Nigel both pulled on the control yokes to raise the nose, just in time to fly between the collapsing Mirage hotel towers.
"SHIT!" Robert yelled as the plane made it with just a few feet to spare. Robert also managed to avoid flying into the Bellagio as it crumbled, passing over the roof with just inches to spare.
After skimming past the Eiffel Tower of the Paris Casino, they were finally in open skies.
"Whew, that was close!" Nigel said. "Yeah, we're out of that one." Robert replied.
"Hey, everyone, we're on our way to China." Nigel said over the intercom as he continued to climb and Robert raised the gear and flaps.
7 hours later...
The 767 was over the Central Pacific, near Hawaii. Irma was sitting in the left seat of the center column of seats, Bella was sitting in the right seat of the same column, and Jennifer was sitting between them. Cornelia and Caleb were sitting in the leftmost column of seats, in the same row, Cornelia in the window seat, and Caleb in the aisle seat.
Taranee and Elyon were in the same row, on the right side of the plane, with Taranee in the aisle seat and Elyon in the window seat.
Bella had just drawn a picture of a dolphin and showed it to Jennifer.
"Wow, that's good!" Jennifer said. She then noticed Irma looking at them. "She has a thing for ocean animals." she said. Irma giggled and smiled at them.
"I was just like that at her age." Irma said. "I'll bet. So, I never knew, how did you and Robert meet?" Jennifer asked.
"Well, I kinda met him the day he first moved to Heatherfield, and we kinda hit it off from there. We started hanging out, then actually going on dates, one thing led to another, and eventually we ended up a very happily married couple." Irma replied.
"OK, everyone, the plan is to refuel in Hawaii, so sit tight, buckle up, and Robert and I will do the rest." Nigel said over the intercom.
In the cockpit, Robert looked out and saw an orange glow through the clouds. "Oh, God." he said. "What is it?" Nigel asked.
"Look." Robert said, pointing at the glow. Nigel looked and saw the glow, and shook his head in disbelief. "Go get our wives." Nigel said.
Robert got up and walked into the cabin. "Irma, Taranee, there's a... You might wanna..." he said as he pointed at the cockpit. Irma and Taranee got up and followed him.
As they looked on, the clouds cleared to reveal Hawaii completely covered in red-hot lava, volcanic vents spewing out even more lava.
"What is that?" Taranee asked. "I'm afraid that that, is Hawaii." Nigel said.
"How much fuel do we have left?" Irma asked. "Barely enough, we may have to make a water landing off the coast." Robert replied.
"Great, at least we're not gonna need the landing gear." Nigel added. "What happened to it?" Taranee asked.
"We lost it, in Vegas." Robert replied.
They flew over the remains of Honolulu, its high-rise towers engulfed in flames and collapsing, as a huge volcanic vent erupted nearby.