| Chapter 3 Diane sat straight up, looking around. She met Kevin's eyes, "What the hell was that?" they both asked at the same time. They both heard the engines rev up then go silent. "Oh shit," Diane mumbled, quickly getting out of her chair and grabbing the phone to the cockpit in the galley. It took a while for anyone to answer. "Yes," Larry said, over alarms going off. "What's going on?" Diane asked, trying to hide her fear. "Get the guys in crash position, we've just lost all our instruments. We're gonna try to find somewhere to set down, but it's gonna be bumpy," Larry said, then hung up. Diane hung up the phone and looked at Kevin. "We're in trouble aren't we?" he asked. She nodded, "Big trouble, get everyone up and in crash position, now." Kevin got up and ran over to Howie and A.J. waking them up, while she went to Brian and Nick. "Guys, you have to get up," she said, shaking them both at the same time. Brian opened his eyes, "Huh?" "Get up, now," she said more forcefully. Brian sat up rubbing his eyes, and hit Nick in the head, "Get up man." Nick looked up, "What?" "Get up, the planes in trouble and we need to get strapped in," Diane said. Nick sat straight up, fear in his eyes, "We're gonna crash?" "Possibly," she said, seeing him turn into a frightened five year old right in front of her. She squeezed his shoulder, "I'll take care of you, now get in a seat." Everyone got up running for the chairs they had occupied on take off. Diane made them all take their pillows with them to hold over their heads. She made sure they where all strapped in before taking her seat next to Howie and assuming the crash position. Now all they could do was wait, and pray. She looked out the window, seeing only darkness. She could tell the plane was falling from the sky and she thought she could hear the pilots screaming at each other over the alarms. Diane closed her eyes, saying her own prayer. She was scared shitless but she couldn't show it. Just the looks on the guys faces told her that. She was the flight attendant and was suppose to know what she was doing. I'll be damned if they see anything but a professional flight attendant, she thought. She looked over at A.J. and Kevin, seeing them huddled together. As the plane shook in the air she stole a glance at Brian and Nick. All she could see was the top of the pillows, and one of each of their hands holding them. She figured they where holding hands with the ones she couldn't see. She looked over at Howie as the plane jerked violently, he smiled weakly at her, but the smile couldn't hide the fear in his eyes. Diane held out her hand for him to take. He grabbed it, leaning closer to her. Diane heard herself scream as the plane started hitting the tops of trees. Then everything seemed to stand still. She could feel the jolt as the plane met resistance and heard the horrible sound of metal tearing apart. Objects where sailing through the air, hitting her from every angle. She felt the plane start to turn on its side, then everything went black. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Diane slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she noticed was the sun shining through one of the windows. Then her body caught up with her and the pain hit. Her head was pounding, and she felt like someone had kicked her in the ribs repeatedly. She moaned, lifting her head to see where she was. She was no longer in her seat, but on the floor of the plane. She slowly sat up, holding her side. "Kevin? Howie? Can anyone hear me?" she called. She heard a moan to her side and looked over, seeing Howie still strapped to his seat. She struggled to her feet and made her way to him. "Howie, wake up," she said. He slowly opened his eyes, looking at her, "What happened?" "We crashed. Are you hurt?" she asked. "I-I don't think so," he said, looking at himself, then back to her, "But you are." Diane reached up and touched the side of her head, pulling her hand back and finding blood on it. "I'll be OK. Help me find the others," she said, turning and looked around them. Howie unbuckled himself and followed her lead, looking around the floor near them. There was debris everywhere, making it hard for them to tell if anyone was underneath it. "Here!" Diane yelled, finding a foot sticking out of the debris. She and Howie quickly uncovered A.J. Diane looked him over, not seeing anything to serious. He had cuts and bruises all over him, but they all did. "A.J., man, wake up," Howie pleaded. A.J. moaned, rolling over on his side, "Did you get it?" he asked. "Get what?" Howie asked, confused. "The license plate of the truck that just hit me," A.J. said, in all seriousness. "A.J. you ass, we just crashed," Howie said, hitting him in the arm. "Ow damn it that hurt!" A.J. said, sitting up. "A.J. you don't think anything's broken do you?" Diane asked. "I don't think so," he said, standing with Howie's help. "Good," she said, continuing the search for Kevin. They didn't have to look far. "Jesus Christ!" Kevin said, waking up and instantly feeling the pain. The three made their way to him. Kevin was against the wall of the plane, pinned underneath one of the chairs. Howie and A.J. quickly got the chair off him. "Kevin, tell me what hurts," Diane ordered. "Right shoulder," he said, "I think it's dislocated." "Anything else hurt?" she asked. "I don't think so," he said, trying to sit up and screaming in pain when he did. "Guys, help him sit up," she said. When they did, she moved around and inspected his shoulder. "I think your right, it is dislocated," she said. "What can we do?" A.J. asked. Diane looked at him, "Hold him down, I'm gonna put it back in place." All three looked at her in shock. "You sure you know how?" Kevin asked. Diane smiled at him, "Trust me." Kevin glanced at the guys with apprehension in his eyes, but then nodded his head. "OK, this is gonna hurt," Diane said, taking his arm. Kevin closed his eyes as A.J. and Howie held him still. "OK, one, two ..." Diane started. Kevin let out a scream to wake the dead as she popped his joint back into place. Diane looked at him, "OK now?" Kevin moved his arm, "Yeah, perfect." "Good, let's find Brian and Nick and see where we are," Diane said. Howie and Diane helped Kevin to his feet. A.J. was standing to the side of them, staring at the front of the plane, "Um guys?" "Yeah," they all said, not looking at him. "Where's the front of the plane?" A.J. asked. Everyone stopped and looked in the direction A.J. was staring. "Oh my God," Diane said under her breath. The entire front of the plane was gone, sheered off just behind where Brian and Nick had been sitting. The only thing they could see was trees. The four quickly made it out of the opening and looked around. Diane noticed a roaring sound, but wasn't interesting in it at the moment. The only thing on her mind was finding Brian and Nick. "Where the hell is it?" Howie asked, frantically searching the forest around the plane. Diane walked to the back of the plane, looking at the ground. "This way," she called. The guys ran to her, following her. "How do you know it's this way?" A.J. asked as they walked. "Look at the ground, it's torn up, and there are limbs broken off the trees. Our part of the plane skidded this way," she said. The four walked for several minutes, before they found the front of the plane. Upon seeing it, they ran to it, yelling Brian and Nick's names. Diane and Kevin ran through the opening of the plane and stopped in their tracks. Nothing looked like the inside of the plane they had been in. Tree limbs pierced through the sides of the plane, and debris was everywhere. As they slowly made their way forward, they could feel the plane rock underneath their feet. "We need to find them and get out of here," Kevin said. Diane nodded, stopping when she thought she heard something. "Help," she heard in barely a whisper. "Over here," she said, quickly looked around her. "Oh God, Brian," she said, finally spotting him. He was laying on his back, barely holding some sort of metal beam off his throat. Kevin quickly grabbed the beam and moved it out of the way. Brian had tears in his eyes as he looked up at his cousin, "Kev, I can't feel my legs." Diane and Kevin looked at each other, fear and worry in both their faces. "Brian, does anything hurt?" Diane asked. "My back," he said. "OK, hang on, we're gonna get you outta here," she said, looking around. She spotted the door that separated the cockpit from the cabin barely hanging on its hinges. "Kevin, get the door and bring it here," she instructed. Kevin got up and carefully made his way to the door, pulling it from the hinges. As he did, he looked inside the cockpit, and had to choke back his vomit. Both pilots where dead, impaled into their seats by several tree limbs. "A.J., you and Howie come here. But be careful, walk slow. This thing is rocking and it could give at any time," Diane said as Kevin returned. "Are the pilots ...?" she started. Kevin shook his head, "Dead." Diane started to turn and look but Kevin grabbed her arm, "Don't, it's not pretty." Diane closed her eyes and sighed, trying to keep herself together. She looked up when Howie and A.J. got to them. "OK, we need to turn Brian on his side, but don't let his back twist, keep it straight. Kevin when we get him up, you need to slide the door behind him so we can lower him onto it," she said. Everyone got into position, moving debris away from Brian. Diane was near Brian's head, holding his neck straight, "OK, everyone ready?" They all nodded. "Alright, on the count of three. One, two, three," she said. They slowly rolled Brian onto his side as Kevin slid the door into place. Then they all slowly let Brian back down. Diane looked at him, "You OK?" Brian nodded slightly, "Yeah." She then looked up at the guys, "OK, look around and see if you can find any seatbelts. There where four chairs in here, we need the seatbelts off them." The guys looked around, finding only three of the chairs, and taking the seatbelts from them. "This is all we could find," A.J. said. "It'll have to do. Tie them together where they can still buckle, " she instructed. They did as they where told. "OK, Kevin and A.J. pick the door up and hold it while me and Howie strap Brian to it," she said. "Ohh, I get it now," A.J. said. Diane smiled at him, "I was beginning to wonder." Kevin and A.J. got on each end of the door, then carefully lifted it up. Diane and Howie took the three straps and buckled Brian to the door at the chest, waist and knees. "Alright guys, slow and steady," Diane said, as they made their way out of the plane. As they emerged from the plane Kevin saw a small clearing a few hundred yards away. "There, let's put him over there," he said, nodding his head in the direction he wanted to go. The group quickly got to the clearing, setting Brian down underneath a tree. "Bri, where do you remember Nick being last?" Kevin asked. "Yeah, I didn't see him in the plane," Howie said. Brian closed his eyes, his chin quivering as tears started to run down the side of his face, "He's gone," he whispered. "Gone, what do you mean gone?" A.J. asked. Brian looked at them, "When the plane broke apart, he got sucked out. I tried to hold him .... but I couldn't," he cried. The four looked at one another, devastated. Diane took a deep breath, somehow finding the courage to keep going. She reached over and wiped the tears from Brian's face, "We'll find him. Can you stay by yourself for a little bit?" Brian nodded. "OK," Diane said, patting his arm, then looked at the rest of the guys, "Let's form a line from this part of the plane to the other. Look everywhere, even in the trees." "The trees?" A.J. asked. "You never know," she said, standing and moving back to the front section of the plane. The four spread out where they could still see each other, then started walking toward the back part of the plane. The forest floor was lined with debris, large pieces of the plane lay everywhere. As they walked they left no stone unturned. They had made it three fourths of the way to the other part of the plane when Howie noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He looked over, seeing a large piece of one of the wings several yards away. He walked over, seeing nothing out of the ordinary until he rounded the side and looked down. His breath caught in his throat, and he grabbed the tree closest to him to keep his knees from buckling underneath him. Tears flowed down his face and his body shook with his sobs. Finally he found his voice, "NOOOO!!" The others ran to him. "What is it?" Kevin asked, seeing his friends condition. Howie looked at them, "He's dead, Oh God he's dead!" Chapter 4 |