In-Flight Meal pt. 4

He wanted to scream, but his lungs fought just to draw breath. His head throbbed and sweat ran down the sides of his face in small rivers. He knew he had to do something or little Mrs. Saggy Boobs was going to run her teeth through him like a runaway buzz saw. Then Alex’s face was gone as she was ripped from his vision and thrown back against the seats. She howled in rage and frustration.

“You know the rules, you stupid bitch! I make the kill!” 13A was standing in the aisle where Alex had been moments ago. The skin on his arms and face rippled like there was something alive crawling just below the surface. His teeth were similar to Alex’s, in that they were moving in his mouth twitching and rubbing together the way the mandibles might scissor back and forth in the maw of an insect. His flat nostrils flared, and Tony could see what looked like tiny worms squirming just inside his nose. The signature sunglasses were gone revealing the same glowing orbs as the others.

Tony tried to lift his arm again, and this time it moved up several inches. He looked at 13A who was glaring at Alex and breathing hard. A fine mist of snot and worms sprayed from his nostrils with each breath.

Alex crouched in the aisle with her legs and arms bent like a tiger ready to pounce. She held her head low and looked up at 13A, baring her vibrating teeth and snarling. Long clear globs of spit dripped from the corners of her misshapen mouth. 13A’s red eyes burned with fury. He pulled his elbows back, pushing out his chest and let out a deafening screech.

The old man, seemingly excited by scuffle, started making sharp yipping noises and made the mistake of stepping out in the aisle between Alex and 13A. Tony heard a whooshing sound as 13A tore off the old man’s head with one hand.

The head bounced off the overhead storage bins and landed a couple of seats back with a wet thump. Tony saw the body fall forward. Black gore shot from its ragged neck in heavy spurts, spraying the twins and attractive couple before falling down beside his seat. As soon as it hit, a sharp burning smell drifted up making his stomach heave. He knew if he had eaten anything lately, he would have just added it to the mess.

One of the twins grabbed the body and dragged it forward. Immediately her sister and the not so attractive couple started scrambling to get position. The man from 5B was working his way back to join in on the fun. Tony could hear wet tearing and splashing sounds over their hungry screeching. Obviously, these things weren’t too picky on what or whom they ate.

The old woman hissed and made a move towards 13A. She had barely taken a step when 13A slashed her with one thick fingernail laying her open from belly to chin like a gutted fish. What looked like rotting snakes spilled out and hung from the slit. She looked down in disbelief then collapsed in a heap. More of the sour burning smell filled the cabin. It smelled to Tony like someone was burning cabbage then tried to put it out with buckets of infected urine.

In a quickness Tony had never seen before, Alex sprang on 13A. They crashed down on the twins, and Tony heard a wet crunching sound followed by an unmistakable scream of pain. Alex and 13A were back on their feet, ripping and tearing at each other in a mix of growls and screams. Seats were torn out, and foam stuffing flew through the air like snow. Behind them, one twin lay on the floor twitching while the rest of the group retreated towards the front of the plane.

Tony knew it would only be a matter of time before these things realized what the whole fight was about and turned their hunger and savagery towards him. He also knew it was now or never.

With immeasurable effort, he tilted his head back even further to try to see behind him. Everything looked upside down, and the seats right behind him blocked what little sense he could make of his surroundings. He forced himself to think about what he saw earlier.

He remembered empty seats, with exception of the late older couple, and clear in the back was what he thought was the lavatory. If he could get to the bathroom, he may be able to lock himself in or maybe beyond that was a way into the luggage bay. Both options sounded pretty weak, but it had to be better than laying out like a slab of meat on the chopping block.

He heard another high-pitched scream and looked towards the front. Alex must have got one in on 13A because he had a large flap of flesh hanging off the side of his face. Behind 13A, the red eyes of the rest of the group bobbed around in the dim cabin like mutated fireflies. 13A reached out and grabbed Alex by the throat.

With his heart roaring like a runaway freight train, Tony tested his arms. They felt like they were filled with sand, but he was able to lift them both off the seat. It was all he could do to subdue the panic rising in his head. He wanted to just rip off the seat belt and charge to the back of the plane, but the small piece of his mind still holding onto sanity, told him if he couldn’t move his legs and just rolled off the seat, he would accomplish nothing other than to get their attention.

He lifted his left leg. It moved off the seat, but like his arms, it felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. His right leg was about the same, but whatever drug Alex had given him was definitely wearing off.

Suddenly, a broken piece of tray table whistled just over his head, smashing into the seat behind him. With all of his concentration spent on trying to make himself move, he hadn’t noticed the fighting up front had stopped. Alex and 13A were both staring at him and slowly moving his way. The rest of their entourage was on their way back too.

Alex had a huge chunk of hair missing, exposing a skull that looked blood red in the glow of 13A’s eyes. Either it didn’t hurt, or the sight of her precious in flight meal about to get up and make a run for it, made the pain insignificant. The remaining twin was crawling over the seats like a huge spider. The not so attractive couple was squeezing down the aisle side by side snarling and slobbering. 5B was somehow crawling on the ceiling of the plane. His head hung down, and a black tongue hung from his mouth flipping from side to side like a writhing eel. 13A already had a hand on Alex’s shoulder to pull her away. His teeth were now moving so fast they were just a blur.

Knowing that sneaking to the back of the plane was out of the question, Tony did the only thing that came into his mind. In an act of pure desperation, he used all of his will and strength to sit up, grab the red handle of the emergency exit door and yank it down. Immediately a loud hissing sound came from around the edges of the door. With one hand, he tightened his seat belt and with the other, he pushed on the door. The sound of rushing air increased to a low roar. Small bits of foam and napkins flew past and were sucked out the growing gap. The force of the air and his weakened condition made it almost impossible to push open, but if he could get it open just enough to catch the wind, the rest would take care of itself.

Seeing what was about to happen 13A screamed and shoved Alex at Tony. Tony barely caught what was happening from the corner of his eye and fell back just as Alex flew over his seat. She smashed headlong into the door accomplishing what Tony didn’t have the strength to do.

The door ripped from the opening and spun away into the black expanse. The roar of the air was deafening, blocking out most of Alex’s screams. She was lying across the opening, trying to push herself away as foam, papers, and plastic glasses were sucked out around her.

Oxygen masks dropped from their compartments and swung wildly in the rush of air. Tony hung on to his seat, but could feel himself being pulled towards the open door. The seats shook as if they were in the throws of a violent seizure. Tray tables fell open and flapped up and down. Then, through the roar of the wind, Tony heard a dry snap as Alex’s spine gave in to the force of the suction. An instant later, she folded in half and vanished through the opening.

With the doorway now completely clear, the force of the wind doubled. The headless body of the old man slid past Tony’s seat and flew out. The body of the old woman wedged itself between two seats. Her loosed guts slid across the floor, unraveling like a garden hose, before being sucked out into the night. The remaining twin let out a high-pitched wail then followed the old woman’s intestines out the door in a tangle of arms and legs.

13A was hanging on to the seats screaming something at the others. Tony saw 5B sliding across the ceiling. He was trying to dig his long nails into the hard plastic of the plane with no success. He tried to jump down, but as soon as he did, he was pulled across the seats towards the door. He managed to grab the top of the seats directly in front of Tony and hold on. His feet were dangling out the door with the wind whipping his legs violently against the sides of the plane. He was only able to hold on for only a couple of seconds before he was sucked out. On his way to his final destiny, his hand briefly caught the side of the opening, which made his legs flip up and sent him cart wheeling upward and directly into the turbine of the tail engine.

The engine dogged down, made a high-pitched whining noise then burst into flames. Immediately a pulsing alarm sounded, and a rapid decent ensued. The plane shuddered and bounced as the pilot tried to compensate for the missing engine and the loss of pressure. The fact the effects of the drink were now entirely gone and Tony was running on full adrenaline were the only things giving him the strength to stay on his seat. Eight rows up, 13A was making his way back. He was three rows from Tony when the bottom of the plane clipped the first treetop. Tony closed his eyes and prayed.