At first, he thought maybe he just had the wrong angle, but through the dim glow of the dash, he could see himself reflected over the headrest of the driver’s seat. It had to be an optical illusion of some kind, but before he could work it out, the car stopped.
Mr. Long got out and walked around to Tony’s door. He opened it and stepped off to the side assuming the professional chauffer position. “Here we are Mr. Pace.” Tony looked out and up at Mr. Long. Mr. Long stood perfectly still, staring straight ahead. Tony slid from the car keeping as much distance between himself and Mr. Long as he could.
Directly in front of the car the Dark Flight Airlines MD88 sat with its engines idling. It looked enormous from Tony’s perspective. As much as he’d flown, this was the first time he had ever been on the ground looking up at an aircraft of this size. He had looked up at plenty of the fifty passenger puddle jumpers where you would walk out on the tarmac and up the steps to the plane, but never one like this.
The words Dark Flight Airlines ran down the side of the sleek silver plane in black letters about six feet tall. They started out in sharp block font slanted slightly forward as if they were leaning into the wind, then trailed off to where the ‘S’ of Airlines flowed out like black satin flapping in the wind.
Red lights on the back of the wings and tail slowly flashed in unison alternately bathing Tony in an eerie red glow then back to darkness. He could see light in the small windows running along the length of the plane, but at this angle, he couldn’t see in. A set of stairs led up to a mobile jetport against the plane to allow access inside.
Tony heard a thump and physically jumped. He spun around to see Mr. Long with his hand on the car’s door, grinning at him and for the first time, actually looking him in the eye. Tony knew it had to be the shadows created by the red lights, but he could swear Mr. Long’s nose was sharper and more turned down than before, and his thin white lips now looked to be struggling to cover his teeth.
The red light faded out, and Tony saw Mr. Long’s pupils grow to large black circles. The red lights flashed back on and reflected from Mr. Long’s eyes like an animal. Tony’s heart was thudding in his chest, and he felt gooseflesh crawl up his arms.
“Mr. Pace. Please hurry. We can’t wait forever.” Tony turned to the sound of the voice and =saw what appeared to be a nicely built woman silhouetted in the doorway at the top of the steps. Her pleasant voice momentarily took some of the edge off Tony’s nerves, then he remembered Mr. Long, his shining eyes and bulging mouth. He turned back half expecting to see him bearing down on him with long searching fingers, but Mr. Long and the black Cadillac were gone. “Mr. Pace?” Tony looked back up the steps. “Is there a problem?” Yeah, a whole shit load Tony thought and headed up the steps.
As it turned out, the woman was nicely built and had the looks to go with it. Her coal black hair flowed behind her in a thick ponytail. Her dark eyes danced above high cheekbones and a perfect smile. Her black uniform was form fitting and low cut. Finally, things were starting to look better.
“It is very fortunate you were able to make our flight Mr. Pace. At this time of night there isn’t much available.” There didn’t seem to be anything sinister in her voice, which was a big relief and an excellent change from Mr. Long. “My name is Alex, and I will be taking care of you tonight.” Her smile widened a bit, and Tony could see her teeth were perfect too. Almost too perfect, like dentures, but there was no way a hot looking woman, of what looked to be about twenty, could have dentures. Tony decided to just accept it as an added bonus to a beautiful smile, and the idea of Alex taking care of him tonight sounded like an excellent plan indeed.
“Thanks Alex. I’m glad I made the flight too.” Tony looked directly into her dark eyes and found it difficult to break away. It was almost hypnotic. He felt himself trying to say something else when she stepped into the plane breaking the momentary trance.
“Welcome aboard,” Alex said.
Tony blinked, dismissing the feeling as nothing more than her intoxicating looks and the weariness of a long day. “Ah yeah, thanks,” Tony said, stepping through the doorway.
Just when he thought things couldn’t get any better, Tony looked at a plane full of first-class seats. Two wide leather seats on each side and far enough apart Tony thought they were probably fully reclining. The wider seats and the fact they were only two per side reduced the total capacity of the plane to about fifty, and most of the seats were empty. An attractive couple in the front seats looked up at Tony, smiled, and then looked back down at their magazines. Tony smiled back and looked at his boarding pass for his seat number. 13D Exit row. Even better yet.
He started down the aisle towards his seat. An older man, sharply dressed, smiled up at him from 5B. Two teenage girls, that looked like they were twins, sat in 8A and 8B. They were both looking at him, then one whispered something in the other’s ear, and they both giggled. They looked back up at him with a look that told Tony maybe he still had it at thirty eight after all. Tony smiled back and went past. Rows nine, ten, eleven, and twelve were all empty.
A man with chiseled features and dark slicked back hair sat in 13A. He was wearing a black dress type T-shirt outlining his muscular chest. A tattoo of a snake weaving its way in and from what looked like a goat's skull donned his right arm just below the sleeve. He wore dark sunglasses, which made it impossible for Tony to tell if he was looking at him or not.
Tony nodded a hello towards the man and got no reaction. Nice guy Tony thought. He looked past row 13 at the remaining seats and saw only an older couple that both gave him a casual glance. He threw his overnight bag under the aisle seat in front of him and slid over by the window.
He looked at the operating instructions on the exit door. It displayed a series of pictures portraying a dark figure pulling down the T shaped release handle and pushing the door out. The last picture showed the figure stepping from the opening while looking back. Something about the figure’s long skinny arms and odd shaped head made the skin on Tony’s arms prickle. He looked closer and thought he could see two small red dots on the figure’s face.
“How’s your seat Mr. Pace?”
Tony sucked in a breath and about dropped his boarding pass.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to startle you Mr. Pace,” Alex said apologetically.
“That’s all right, don’t worry about it,” Tony said. “I’ve just had a long day.” He leaned back in the seat, trying to settle his heart. The seats were as comfortable as they looked, and Tony knew it wouldn’t take long to fall asleep. “It’s great. Thanks.” Alex smiled and walked back towards the front of the plane.
Tony took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. He knew he had to get a grip on himself before somebody decided he was a terrorist and kicked him off the plane. He glanced down at his boarding pass still folded up in his hand. He unfolded the heavy paper and really looked at it for the first time. In the top left corner was Dark Flights inked out in the same script as on the side of the plane. Directly below that was the flight number, date, origin and departure time. Under this was the departure gate of DF1, the destination city, and in print so small Tony had to squint to read it, were the words In flight meal will be served. In flight meal. Tony chuckled. He hadn't' seen that since the late nineties.
His stomach gave a low rumble and Tony realized he hadn’t eaten anything since the Quarter Pounder meal at eleven thirty that morning. He had no idea what the meal might be, but the way everything else was laid out in this plane he figured it would be pretty good.
Folding the boarding pass, he slid it into his shirt pocket and glanced over at 13A. His sunglasses were close enough to his face Tony couldn’t see his eyes, but with his head tilted slightly forward he assumed 13A was asleep.
A soft tone bonged from a speaker above Tony’s head, followed by the smooth and pleasant voice of the pilot. “Welcome aboard Dark Flight Airlines. I’m Captain Winters. We’ll be cruising at 37,000 feet and have an expected flight time of approximately one hour and forty-five minutes. The air up there should be smooth so as soon as we reach our cruising altitude I will be tuning off the seat belt sign so that you can all move about the cabin.” Tony heard the engines rev up and felt the plane move forward. “We will be number one for take off so Alex please take your seat.” Tony crossed his legs in the roomy space between the seats and looked out the window.
A good distance from where the plane was now taxiing he could see the small lights of the main terminal and the dark shape of the tower looming behind it. Beacons slowly flashed on the top of the tower, and Tony could see light spilling from the windows, but it was too far to make out anything inside. Blue lights, sticking up from the ground in small wire cages, flashed past below him as Dark Flights Airlines flight number DF3332 rolled towards the main runway.
The plane made a sharp right turn revving the engines to full throttle as it straightened out. Tony felt himself being pushed back into the soft leather seat and closed his eyes. DF3332 roared down the runway, lifted its nose and magically raised all eighty tons of itself into the air. He was already drifting off to sleep as the wheels bumped into place in the belly of the plane.
Mr. Long was looking at him through the rearview mirror in the long black Caddie, except the only thing visible in the mirror were two shining red orbs surrounded by a burning yellow. Tony went for the door handle only to find the inside of the door was completely smooth. No handle for the door, no button for the window and nothing to unlock it. The car came to an abrupt stop, and Tony had to put his hand on the front seat to avoid being thrown into it. He looked up and could see Mr. Long’s pointed ears poking out from his thin gray hair.
“Is there a problem Mr. Pace?” Mr. Long’s voice was low and guttural. He slowly turned his head to look back at Tony. As he turned, Tony could see his features come into focus. They pulsed with a red light that seemed to come in from everywhere. It was like the sky was filled with blood red lightning.
“I… I…” Tony tried to scream, but it felt like his throat was full of mud, and nothing came out but muffled grunts. He clawed at the door and felt his fingernails catch on something peeling two of them back. The grotesque face, with a nose that looked more like a beak, was grinning back at him. Large pointed teeth gleamed in the pulsing red light.
Tony pushed himself as far back in the seat as possible. Instead of the sleek smooth feel of leather, the seat now felt and smelled more like the soft rotten flesh of a bloated corpse. Suddenly, black wrinkled hands with ragged yellow nails burst through the seat behind him and gripped his arms, sucking him back into the fleshy material. Another hand pushed out, sending a spray of black gore spattering across the inside of the car. It slapped its wet palm across Tony’s forehead and yanked his head back stretching and exposing his neck.
He jerked and thrashed, but the black hands only tightened further. Mr. Long’s grin widened. Clear globs, made pink by the strange light, dripped from two-inch long canines. Tony felt his eyes bulging from their sockets and could hear the tendons in his neck snapping like rubber bands. Mr. Long lunged. Jaws snapping so fast Tony could hear the teeth making a whirring sound as they raced toward his stretched out throat.
Tony woke up willing himself not to scream. Huge beads of sweat clung to his forehead and trickled down the sides of his face like salty pearls. At first, he was disoriented and didn’t know where he was, but the soft bumping of mild turbulence and the constant low roar of the jet engines brought him back to reality.
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