Evolution of the Dead (16 page)

They took off.

Kim watched out her window.  The horizon was shrouded in smoke.  Buildings were burning all over the city.  Cars were burning in the streets.

Carmen sat back in her seat and closed her eyes.  She shook her head.

Quietly she said, “It won’t be.”

After a rough landing, Scott taxied toward the terminal.

There was no movement around the gates.  No ground crew was working.  Sitting on the tarmac, he tried raising the control tower on the radio.  No one answered. “Looks like we’re on our own, folks,” he said quietly.

Stacy asked, “It’s here, too?”

“Seems that way.”

Carmen said plainly, “It is.”

Nick wanted to ask her how she knew but he kept his mouth shut.

“Maybe we shouldn’t go up to the main terminal,” Frank suggested.  “Let’s try one of the hangars on the outside runways.”

“Why?” Scott asked, turning the plane.

“Well we’re not getting any answers from the tower.  Obviously, something’s wrong here.  If we park further out – or over by the hangars - we’ll have a better chance of getting out of here quickly if we run into trouble.”

“I guess that’s a good idea,” Scott said.  “We may need to take off in a hurry – that is, if the propeller’s not too badly damaged.  I’m going to check it after we shut down.”

All of the runways were empty.

Five large hangars, labeled
A B C D
and
E
sat on the south side of the runway.  Several other smaller planes were parked outside.  Scott taxied to the front of the center hangar which was hangar
C
.

He added, “If we shut down, we probably won’t be able to get going again.”

“Let’s just hope its safe here,” Frank said.

“I’ll leave the plane running.”

He got out to see if any of the hangars were unlocked.

Kim asked, “If our plane dies, couldn’t we just take another one? There are a lot of them just sitting around out here.”

Frank looked back at her over his shoulder.  “It wouldn’t be that easy, hon.  If these other planes are pre-1990, I think we’d be able to break into any one of them pretty easy.  We could start the plane with hardly any trouble.  But stricter aviation laws made it a lot harder to break into personal planes – and even commercial airliners, for that matter.”

Nick said to himself, “We’re at an airport with plenty of planes, but if this one dies, we’re stuck.”

“It would take a lot of work to get a different plane started,” Frank repeated.

“What would we have to do?” Carmen asked.

“I’m not familiar with all of the details, honestly.  I’ve only read a little bit on the internet, mostly stuff Scott sends to me.  I am no expert.  Really, Scott knows a lot more about this than I do.”

A minute later, Scott came back out by the plane.  He motioned for Frank to kill the engine.

“Guess we’ll be safe.  He must have found something,” Frank said as he pressed his button to shut off engine number one.

Frank
knew
they were stuck.  They would never be able to get Scott’s plane up again.  All of the other planes were useless as well.  If they chose to break into one, they would need a coded key specifically made for that plane.  Finding the key, or the owner of the plane, would be nearly impossible; especially now.

Carmen popped the door open from the inside.  Scott helped her down to the ground, offering his shoulder as support.  She happily took it.  The pain in her foot remained.

He led them to a side door on the hangar.  Right inside, beyond a tall standing receptionist desk which was covered in dust and old papers, someone had set up several old couches around a box TV.  Small end tables were covered with cigarette ashes, overflowing ash trays and empty beer cans.  On the opposite end of the hangar a large plane sat which had been nearly stripped down to its frame.  Several large tool boxes were stationed around the plane.  Spare parts, some in boxes, others laid out on fold-out tables were everywhere.  Coiled rope was bunched up along another wall.  More cardboard boxes sat here and there.  The building smelled of used oil.  A metal stairway led up to some offices.  Large windows high up on the walls of the hangar lit the interior of the hangar.

Scott set Carmen down on one of the couches.  “You rest now,” he told her.

Kim was at his side.

Frank and Stacy were looking up at the bare-boned plane.  Nick said, “They use that for spare parts.  It’s called a hangar queen.”

“They know that,” Scott said.

Carmen asked Nick, “Where’s Janet?”

He crossed his arms, sighing.  “I told you.  She wanted out.”

“You told
me
,” Kim said.  “But you didn’t say
exactly
what happened.”

“We had an argument,” he said not looking at them.  “She wanted to get out of the car so, I let her out.”

Carmen said quietly, “You ran her
over
.”

“No!” Nick said, angrily.  “No, I did not! She got out on her own.”

He screamed in his mind,
how does this bitch
know
this?

Scott asked, “You let her out of your car in the middle of the street? With all of the dead shits around? Where did she go?”

“I don’t know.”

“You killed her, didn’t you, you son of a bitch?”

“Fuck you, I did not.”

Frank walked between them.  “Listen, we’re safe now.  Let’s work together here, alright? We don’t need to argue.  Let’s get along.”

“She was a
friend
of ours, dad,” Scott said.  “We just want to know what happened to her.”

“She’s dead, son.”

“How do you know? You weren’t…”

“If she’s alone out there, she’s dead.”

Scott stopped arguing.  His dad was right.  He was always right.  Janet couldn’t have survived alone.

Stepping forward, Frank offered his hand to Nick.  “I’m Frank Olson.”

Nick shook Frank’s hand.  “I’m Nick Carson.”

“Kim Schlaegel,” Kim said, her hand outstretched.  She wasn’t happy about what had just transpired with Nick.  She’d have to talk to Scott about it later.

“I’m Carmen Mayfield,” Carmen said raising her hand in the air.  She wasn’t happy about it, either.

“Ok, so, it seems we have a bit of a break from the dead,” Frank said.  “Why don’t we look around for some supplies, food, maybe some water? Carmen, you look like you could use some pain medication.”

“Yes, but they’re a bit of a hard commodity to come by these days,” Carmen sighed.

Frank smiled.  “We’ll see if we can find something for you.”

“Thanks.”

Nick sat down on one of the couches.  “I’m taking a break.  I’m fuckin beat.”

“Me too,” Stacy said.  She sat in one of the couches next to Carmen and Nick.

“I could really use a potty break,” Carmen said.

Scott leaned down toward Kim, his eyebrows raised.

“Yes, I’ll take her,” she smiled with a sigh.

He winked at her.  Turning to his dad he said, “I guess it’s me and you then, dad.  Let’s see what we can find.”

Frank gestured for Scott to take the lead.

He did.

After Kim helped Carmen up from the couch, Nick asked Stacy, “So you’re Scott’s sister?”

“Yes.”

“Younger or older?”

“Younger.”

Nick sat with his hands in his lap.  He was rubbing his thumbs together.

Stacy was admiring his looks.  She said, “I like your long hair.”

“Oh, thanks.  A lot of people compliment me on it.”

“Mine, too.”

“Yeah, yours is nice,” he said.  “Very shiny.  Clean.  It reminds me of my girlfriend’s.”

Stacy asked, “Where is she?”

“I don’t know,” he said.  “Last time I saw her was before lunch yesterday.”

“God, it would drive me mad if I couldn’t talk to my boyfriend during all this.”

“Oh it’s bugging the hell out of me,” he said.  “We just found out we’re pregnant.”

“Nice,” she said.  “Congrats.”

“Thanks.”

She awkwardly grabbed her elbow with her hand.  “Yeah, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Oh.”

“Dad’s pretty protective.”

“Nothing wrong with that.”

“No.  I guess not.”

“So that means you’re still a virgin, right?”

“What?”

“You’re still a virgin since your daddy doesn’t let you go out.”

“You know, that’s not really any of your damn business.”

He smiled, “I was just making conversation.”

She smirked.  “Let’s converse about something else then.”

“Ok.”  He slapped his hands down on the top of both of his knees.  This could get interesting.

Awkwardly, she asked, “So, how do you know about hangar queens?”

“I’ve done a lot of studying on design and shit like that.  I had a job interview yesterday for a level design position; and well, the job I was going to design for, if I got the job, was a racing game. 
Mac Racing V
, have you heard of it?”

She shook her head.  “No.”

“Well, it’s a racing game.  Cars, helicopters, jets, whatever.  Anything with an engine.  One of the levels from
Mac Racing IV
had hangars in it…and in one of the hangars, there was a hangar queen.”

“Oh, I see.”

Nick said, “So if you aren’t a gamer; and if you don’t have a boyfriend…what do you do?”

“I’m a student.”

“What do you study?”

“I’m kind of undecided right now.  I’m either going to be a teacher or an actress.”

“Well, you’ve definitely got the looks for an actress.  You’re very attractive.”

She smiled, shrugging her shoulders.  “Thanks.”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“You got any weed?”

“No,” she said bashfully.  “No I don’t do drugs.”

He laughed.  “It’s not a drug anymore.  It’s nearly legal everywhere.”

They fell quiet.  The silence started getting very loud.  Stacy shuffled around on the couch.  She was hoping Carmen and Kim would come back soon.

Nick finally asked, “So you’re not a gamer then?”

“No,” she said looking toward the restrooms.  “No I don’t play any games.”

“Not even head games?”

She shot a look at him.  “What? No.”

“So you don’t like giving head?”

“Um, I think I’m going to check on Carmen.”

“Come on,” he laughed.  “I’m just kidding with you.  God.  Relax.  I’m trying to break the ice.”

“I told you I was only eighteen.”

“Yea? So.”

“Well that’s the reason why my dad is so protective of me.  He doesn’t want me to get hurt; by guys like you who…play video games all day, smoke pot and have one night stands.”

Nick laughed.  “Oh come on! Jesus, Stacy I was just messing with you.”

“I don’t like it,” she said.  “It’s enough that we’re having to deal with dead people walking around trying to kill us, and here all you’re worried about is if I give good head.  I don’t even
know
you.  Why do you think it’s ok to talk to me like this?”

“I was just messing around!”

“I don’t think it’s funny.”

“I wasn’t trying to be funny.  Damn.  I was…”

“I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” she said getting up.

“Fine.  I was just trying to, you know,
relax
the situation a bit.  You know, lighten the fucking load.  But if you can’t even take a god damn joke, then I guess I don’t need to talk to your 18 year old ass anymore either.”  He stood up, stared at her for a second.  “You’re fucking weak, just like all the other cunts around here.  Weak, worthless bags of shit.”  He walked away toward the hangar queen.

Stacy sighed heavily.  She felt like crying.

Where was her dad and Scott?

She went to go check on Carmen.

Across the hangar, up the metal stairs, Scott and Frank were searching through two abandoned offices.  Both rooms were in very bad shape.

Below a dust covered cracked window, a dusty stained mattress was lying crooked on a chipped wooden frame. A single piss-stained pillow sat off center on the bed.  Several rusted file cabinets with missing drawers stood guard on either side of the door.  Fold-up chairs sat at the foot of the bed.  The floor was stained.

The other office had a desk in it with an old computer on top.  Rolls and rolls of printer paper were scattered across the desk and across the floor.  There were pictures of old aircraft on the peeling paint covered walls.  Faded diplomas hung on each side of a broken window.  A single lounge chair with torn leather sat in a corner.  There was no food to find and no water to drink.