The Last Layover (2 page)

Chapter 2: Flight 4225

It was the end of October. Evan and Jason were starting a four-day trip together the next morning. Evan had to commute to Columbus the night before as the trip had an early report time. He called Jason on his way to Knoxville to catch a flight. When Jason answered the phone, Evan asked, “Got your gear packed?” This was a question he already knew the answer to since Jason was a bit more on the “all business” side than himself. 

Jason just responded sharply, “You know it! I'm ready for the zombies.”

“Screw the zombies; they would be harmless compared to the city rats.”

“Very true, so why don't you just spend the night here? We've got room.”

“Thanks, but I've already got a hotel room booked,” Evan replied. “Besides, you need your family time. We can catch up during the trip. Just pick me up at the hotel tomorrow morning on your way.”

“Roger that, Boss. Are you staying at that dump again?”

“Yep, the Skyway Lodge. Yes, it's a dump, but it's cheap. That leaves me more money for beans, bullets, and Band-Aids. Besides, I was in the Navy, so I have low standards for my accommodations,” Evan answered.

They shared a laugh, said their goodbyes, and went on with their respective evening plans. Evan spent the night at the hotel in Columbus. After tucking his kids in bed over the phone, he told his wife he loved her. She was getting increasingly nervous about his travel, given the state of things. No matter where she looked, every television channel, newspaper, and internet news source contained reminders of how the fabric of society was unraveling. The only difference was who they blamed. He felt the same; he just didn't let it show. If given a choice, he would have gladly changed careers so he could remain closer to home. Unfortunately, with a record unemployment rate and the seemingly daily occurrence of local businesses shutting down—or relocating out of the country—there were simply no opportunities to be had. This was the hand that he had been dealt, so he had to play it.

Early the next morning, Jason picked Evan up right on time, as always, and they headed for the airport, stopping briefly at a Dunkin Doughnuts drive-through window. Evan often referred to coffee as his life support system. Flying long hours on an ever-changing schedule with commuting thrown into the mix will wear one down over time.

Once they reached the airport, they met up with their two flight attendants, Glen Brooks and Peggy Marshal. Glen had been with the company for several years and was a fun, entertaining guy to have along. He lived in Boston, and like Evan, commuted to Columbus for work. Always cracking jokes with a twisted and unabashed sense of humor, he kept things lively.

Peggy was a new hire, just out of initial training. At twenty six years old, she was eager to start a new life for herself after a painful divorce. She was a single mother with a five year old son named Zack. Her parents were comfortably retired and lived just across the river from Cincinnati in Newport, Kentucky. They graciously volunteered to watch her son while she was away for work. They knew she needed this change in her life, so they were willing to accommodate her in any way they could. This was only her second real trip flying the line after her completion of training. She felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement about her next four days on the road. Since she lived in Cincinnati, she drove to Columbus early that morning and arrived ready and raring to go. Evan and Jason enjoyed working with new hires as they usually had a positive attitude. They found this refreshing since the airline industry tended to leave people bitter and jaded, given enough time.

The economy became so bad, people were not flying as much as they had in the past. Businesses cut back their travel significantly in order to cope with the changing economic climate; the average leisure traveler and vacationing family simply could not afford to travel like they once could. This was further impacted by the fact that current administration had cut funding in areas that would intentionally inflict pain on the American people. This was done to garner support for the president's ever-increasing deficit spending. Unfortunately, air traffic control had been one of those cuts. With fewer controllers on the job, airlines did not have the departure and arrival slots they used to have in the congested traffic of the northeast.

“Today is a total waste of a day of my life,” as Evan put it. “Only one flight to JFK and we're done for the day, stuck in that hell hole.” Evan said this aloud; he did not hide the fact that he didn't have much love for New York. The corrupt and oppressive government, overcrowded everything, and a voter base that kept the wannabe dictators in power, left a bad taste in his mouth.

Jason just sighed in agreement as Glen quipped back, “Hell hole? I love New York. I'm going clubbing tonight, if you rednecks wanna go.”

“No thanks, all I brought to wear was my camouflaged NRA shirt, and I doubt they would let me in wearing that,” said Jason.

“Damn straight! You gun nuts just keep to your Tea Party rallies and Klan meetings and leave the clubs to the rest of us,” Glen said, jokingly.

“Deal! Except for the Klan part, of course. You do realize your side founded the KKK right?” Evan replied. “Besides, you'll come crying to us gun nuts for help when the zombies come.”

“Hell no! My ass will get eaten right away. I wouldn't last five minutes in a zombie apocalypse. I've watched The Dead Walking or whatever it's called. You can keep that world,” replied Glen in an intentionally snarky manner.

They all shared a laugh, then got on with their respective duties. Although Glen, Evan, and Jason did not see eye-to-eye on political or social issues, or much of anything else for that matter, they had a mutual respect for each other and enjoyed working together while giving each other a hard time.

Flight 4225 got off a few minutes late due to late arriving passenger baggage, but was otherwise uneventful. The cool fall morning air provided them with nice smooth rides, helping the flight attendants complete their in-flight beverage service with ease. During the cruise portion of the flight, Evan and Jason caught each other up on the goings on in their lives, while Glen took rookie Peggy under his wing and helped her with her duties in the back. The weather going into New York was crystal clear. It was one of those beautiful mornings without a single bump in the sky. The cool morning air was as smooth as glass, the winds were calm, and the temperature/dew point spread gave them near unrestricted visibility.

As they were being vectored up the Jersey Shore towards JFK by air traffic control, they could see all of Manhattan Island and Long Island. Jason turned to Evan and said, “Man... that's the last place I want to be when shit hits the fan.”

“Ditto,” Evan responded. “Just imagine being down in the middle of that mess when things go down. It would be just like the Will Smith movie
I Am Legend
, when people were fighting to get off of the island, trampling women and children for the last helicopter or ferry. Oh, and of course the city rats would be in heaven amidst the lawlessness. That just makes me glad we are pack’n.”

“Hell, yeah,” said Jason. “That, and you would have a long way to go to get away from it all, even if you were lucky enough to get out of NYC itself. The traffic would be total gridlock, and that's if the roads were even open at all. On top of that, the urban sprawl just seems to go on forever, so humping it out on foot wouldn't be a picnic either.”

As they made their final approach to the airport, Evan looked at Jason who was flying this leg and said, “You’d better grease this one because after that smooth ride, the passengers will definitely notice if you bonk it. No pressure, though,” he said with a devious smile.

Jason just replied, “Oh, ye of little faith.” He then added a few knots of airspeed to their calculated final approach speed and said, “That’s for a cushion.”

Evan looked at him and said, “Just don’t float it. A greaser that touches down beyond the touch down zone doesn’t count as a good landing, no matter what the passengers think.”

Jason chuckled. “Watch and learn, brother,” he said as he brought the airplane in for a landing so smooth it was hard to tell if they had even touched down.

As they rolled down the runway and decelerated with the thrust reversers, Evan said, “Well, you set the bar high for my next one with that.”

“I do what I can to keep you on your game, old man.”  The two always had some sort of healthy competition going on between them.

With the reduced flights and such, it seemed eerily quiet as they taxied to the gate. What not too long ago was a bustling, congested airport was now ghostly quiet with just a few aircraft taxiing around. On the bright side, Evan thought, at least there wouldn't be lines trying to get in and out of this place like before. The U.S. Economy was so depressed, at least twenty percent of the domestic flights had been removed from the regular schedule. The Middle Eastern, Asian, and European airlines seemed like they were still running at normal capacity, however.

“Those foreign airlines don't seem to have cut back any,” Evan commented taking notice.

“Yeah, they must be coming here for the cheap shopping now that the dollar is so low, just like how Americans used to feel in Mexico with the peso,” added Jason. They just nodded in agreement with mutual disappointment for the current state of the country and the world.

Upon reaching the terminal, Evan pulled the aircraft into the gate. As what seemed to be common practice these days, they had to wait for about fifteen minutes for a gate agent to arrive to operate the jet-way. Once she arrived, she pulled the jet-way up to the main cabin door and the passengers were deplaned. The crew gathered their things, secured the airplane, and headed out of the terminal for their extended layover in New York.

With the JFK airport being located on Long Island, just east of Manhattan, the crews always stayed at the Rockville Center Suites Hotel near Rockville Center on Long Island. The hotel was conveniently located just two train stops away from Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. There were a few local pubs and restaurants and a nearby train station, but otherwise it was mostly a retail and residential area. It was close enough to the hustle and bustle of downtown that crews on overnight layovers could easily visit, while also being far enough away to be able to avoid it.

The crew made their way through the terminal to the curb for their ground transportation to the hotel. Once they were on their way via the hotel shuttle van, Glen said, “Hey, I'm hitting the train station and spending the day in the city, and tonight who knows what? Who's with me?”

Being new to the whole scene and excited to explore, Peggy said, “I'm in, but I'm flat broke so I can't spend much.”

First year flight attendant pay is basically poverty wages, and with the company deducting the cost of their uniforms from their first paycheck, they were not left with much. The first few months on the job for flight attendants without someone to help support them is usually a ramen-noodle-every-meal kind of lifestyle.

Glen said, “Don’t sweat the money, honey, it will be a blast and I'll help you out. Besides, you're a cute young thing; plenty of guys will be willing to buy your drinks where we are going. How about you two rednecks? Are you still gonna slam-click me?”

Slam-clicking is a commonly used phrase to describe a fellow crew member who simply slams their hotel room door and clicks the lock, not to be seen again till the next day. A slam-clicker is essentially a stick in the mud.

Evan laughed and said, “We can't keep up with you young’uns all night. You two have fun.”

“Suit yourselves,” replied Glen as he redirected his attention to his smartphone.

For the next few miles, the crew sat quietly and watched the city go by through the van’s tinted windows. As they passed by a local grocery store on the way to the hotel, Jason noticed a crowd and some commotion going on out front. A police patrol car appeared to have arrived at the scene only moments before. The officer seemed to have his hands full and backup had yet to arrive. Jason asked the van driver, “What the heck is going on there?”

The van driver said, “Oh, those damn right wingers and tea baggers won't help the president and have shut the government down again! Because of them, he can't pay for the food stamps these people depend on to get by. Those fools got to go! These people get their food stamps cut off and are desperate, so they just take the food. The store calls the cops then the next thing ya know we got a mini riot.”

Evan and Jason just sat there, biting their tongues. They knew they couldn't undo a lifetime of left wing New York brain washing in the last few miles to the hotel, so there was no point even attempting to make the argument. It seemed to them that over half of the population was no longer capable of objective critical thought, allowing the corrupt to use the ignorance of the masses as a powerful political weapon. As Thomas Jefferson said, “If a nation expects to remain ignorant and free, it wants what never was and will never be.”

Chapter 3: The Layover

When the van finally arrived at the hotel, they gathered their bags and proceeded inside to the lobby to check in. While checking in, Peggy said, “Sorry, Glen, but I'm broke so I'm gonna have to pass. Maybe next time.”

Glen looked disappointed but determined. “Your loss, sugar. Have fun with those two rednecks there.” He smiled at Evan and Jason, relishing in the opportunity to take a stab at them in fun. They chuckled, rolled their eyes, and let it go.

After checking in, Evan, Jason, and Peggy got into the elevator while Glen chatted up the hotel front desk clerk. As soon as the door closed Peggy said, “Thank God you guys are staying. After seeing that mob scene at the grocery store a few miles back, I changed my mind in a hurry. I don't want to be out in this place and have something like that happen.”

Evan said, “Well, we are walking a block down the street to a little Irish pub for a bite and a beer later, if you want to go.”

“Yeah, their bangers and mash are the best,” added Jason.

“Sure,” she said. “What time?”

“How about six?” Jason queried.

“Works for me! I’ll see you guys then,” she said with a smile.

The elevator arrived at their floor, and they each went their separate ways. Once in their rooms, they made their phone calls home to let their loved ones know that they had made it safely to their hotel. They changed clothes and made their way downstairs at six o'clock to meet for dinner. On the way down, Evan and Peggy bumped into each other at the elevator. Peggy was still on the phone chatting with her mother, so Evan checked his social media on his phone while the elevator took them to the lobby level.

Upon arriving in the lobby, Peggy wrapped up her call. There stood Jason, tapping on his watch with a stern face. “You are late! Beer o'clock was three minutes ago. Happy hour is burning!”

“Yeah, yeah, we'll do better next time, sir,” Evan said with a smirk.

After a short walk, they arrived at the pub and grabbed the last available table, near the main entrance door. They arrived just as it was getting busy with the after-work crowd. Evan and Jason were both comfortable and warm in their hiking boots, cargo pants, and jackets; however, Peggy wasn't quite as appropriately dressed. She wore slip on sandals, yoga pants, and a light jacket. She complained about the cold every time the door opened as patrons came in and out. Evan and Jason just nodded and smiled at her frustrations. Once the waitress arrived, Evan ordered his favorite India Pale Ale, Jason his standard order of a dark and creamy Stout, and Peggy a typical American light beer. They both snickered at her order, being self-described beer aficionados, and then offered up a toast.

“Here's to another day flying and not making the news,” Jason said. As they raised their glasses, they felt a tremble through the ground, then heard a muffled
thump, thump, thump
off in the distance. This was followed almost immediately by the lights going dark.

There were a few drunken cheers in the pub by patrons expecting the lights to simply come right back on; however, they did not. It was nearly seven o'clock in the evening and, being late October, it was already dark outside. Evan went over to the door and looked around to see that all of the buildings, except for a random few that must have had emergency generators, were dark, as well as all of the street lights. Traffic immediately started to back up as the traffic signals were no longer functioning. The situation was only made worse by drivers who stopped to look around, trying to figure out what was going on.

He quickly walked back to the table and told Jason and Peggy, “Time to go!”

Jason immediately stood up and grabbed his coat, seeing the seriousness on Evan's face. Peggy just sat there looking at the two of them like they were crazy and said, “What? Why? We haven't even started on our beer yet. The lights will come back on in a minute.”

As Evan placed a twenty dollar bill on the table to cover their drinks he said, “I'm afraid not, the entire city is out. Remember the grocery store? Do you want to be in the middle of something like that in the dark?”

She immediately grabbed her purse and they walked out the door while all the other pub patrons stood around, confused and waiting for the lights to come back on. They made their way back to the hotel, walking at a brisk pace down the dark sidewalk. Evan and Jason both wished they had their handguns with them instead of having them out of reach in their rooms at the hotel. The sidewalks were getting more crowded by the moment as people came out of the darkened buildings to find out what was going on. Just like most of the people standing around on the sidewalks, Evan, Jason, and Peggy were all checking their phones, trying to find a signal. To their dismay, it appeared that no one had service in the area, regardless of the provider.

As they approached the hotel, they heard another series of booms in the distance. “That doesn't sound like transformers exploding,” said Evan with a concerned voice. “It's too muffled, almost like it's coming from underground, like at a mine or construction zone.”

When they reached the front of the hotel, they were relieved to find that it at least had its emergency lighting on. The automatic doors were not working, so they entered through the side entrance that someone had propped open.

Once inside, they stopped to talk to the front desk clerk to see what he knew. He said he had no idea what was going on, but explained that they had a backup generator. Unfortunately, it was only enough to power the lobby, hallway, and stairwell emergency lighting systems. He said it was there for insurance reasons, otherwise the miserly owners would not have sprung for it.

He handed them each a chem-light to use in their rooms and said with a chuckle, “Enjoy your stay with us.”

They all laughed, then Evan and Jason shared with him what they had seen and heard during their walk back to the hotel.

“It’s never gone out like that before,” he said. “Usually, it's a street by street or block by block kind of thing. Oh well, they will get it figured out soon.”

Evan and Jason, however, did not share his optimism. Evan, Jason, and Peggy walked over and took a seat in the lobby. They sat there quietly for a moment soaking in the night’s events. 

After a few moments of silence, Evan spoke up and said, “Okay, here's what I think. We don't have a clue what's going on yet, but it doesn't look good. After the first couple of booms we heard, everything went dark. The entire city is affected from what we can see, and that's not normal. To top it off, none of our phones work, the desk clerk said the land lines are down, and who knows what those last few thuds we heard were. I say we hunker down for the night and give Glen a chance to make it back. We can formulate a bug out plan in the morning based on what we learn between now and then, unless of course this all turns out to be less than we think.”

Jason nodded in agreement as Peggy nervously interjected, “What do you mean less than what we think? What do we think? And what do you mean
bug out
? We can't leave while we are here for work! I'm new and on probation. I'll get fired and I have a child to support!” she said as her voice began to get more excited.

“Calm down, Peggy. Just relax and I'll explain,” Evan said. He proceeded to go over all of the changes that he and Jason had been studiously watching the country go through. He explained how the country's economic instability, combined with a government that seemed hell-bent on dividing its own people into favored groups of victims while pitting them against demonized groups of their opposition, made the country ripe for some sort of event to push it over the edge.

“It's textbook, really, if you look at history on how to collapse a country from the outside, using surrogates to do your dirty work, or from the inside via some sort of false flag event. Some of the president's own associates from Columbia University, who are devout Marxists, actually published a strategy on how to do just that in America.

“Just look at the intermittent cutting off of food stamps and benefits that have caused people to snap, like at the grocery store. It's almost as if they have been testing the people to see if they were ripe for the picking. If they will riot over food stamps, what do you think the result would be if you took away their running water, sewage, electricity, cell phone, etc.? They've been trained and conditioned to feel as if they are entitled to what you have, so when you take away their steady stream of government handouts, they will feel justified in taking what’s yours.”

“But why in the world would people in our own government do such a thing?” exclaimed Peggy.

“Loyalty to the cause—” Evan was interrupted by a loud
POP, POP, POP
that sounded like gunfire coming from just the next street over.

Peggy looked toward the door, her nervousness apparent. “What was that?”

“The rats are coming out to play already,” answered Evan.

“Well, folks, we have to get ourselves in order here,” interrupted Jason. “Let's all go back to our rooms for the night. Make sure you deadbolt and flip-latch the door also. Peggy, you need to figure out what is in your suitcase that you really need. Consider things like comfy shoes, warm clothes, medication etc., and put it in your smaller RON bag. Just take your company manuals and put them in your big suitcase along with everything else that isn't critical. If this all turns out to be no big deal, then fine, but if we wake up tomorrow to a different world, we are gonna need to travel light and leave that stuff behind. Let's all meet in my room at 0700 and we will gather any new intel and hammer out a plan.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Evan.

“Okay,” Peggy reluctantly replied.

“Oh, and don't leave your room tonight. Bad people are gonna start taking advantage of the lights-and-phones-out situation very soon; if those shots we heard are any indication, they already have.”

Evan and Jason escorted Peggy to her room and waited in the hall until she was safely inside with the door locked and latched. As they walked down the hall towards their own rooms, Jason said, “So what do you think is going on?”

“Exactly what we expected to happen,” Evan said. “Every country in the world has leadership that puts the security and needs of their country first. They have built and strengthened their infrastructure, defense, and economic standing. We, on the other hand, have had a government as of late, that seems to do nothing but cash out our value and try and bring us down to everyone else's level, all in the name of appeasement, political correctness, and tolerance. It was only a matter of time before someone took advantage of our self-inflicted situation. Is it Islamic extremists? Is it China or Russia? Or is it from within? Who knows at this point? All I know is, I don't have a good feeling right now.”

On that note, Evan and Jason went into their rooms and prepared for what may come. That night, none of the three slept very well, each of them worrying about what might be going on in the world. They worried about how their families were doing back home. Was this event really that wide spread, or was it isolated to New York City? Were their families watching all of this unfold on television in complete safety while worrying about them, or where they caught up in the situation themselves? How was Glen? Was he safe? Did he make it back? Will he? Will they have to leave without him?

As all of these unanswered questions swirled around in their heads, their sleep was also interrupted by the occasional sounds of yelling, gunshots, and sirens outside the hotel. Some sounded distant, but others were disturbingly close. Evan and Jason both feared that as the outages carried on, the less-than-desirable elements of society would begin to take more and more advantage of the situation. 

After a night that seemed to go on for days, the sun finally came up and the violent noises faded. The three met at Jason's room at 0700 as they had agreed the previous night. Jason and Evan had both pulled their emergency back packs from their roll-aboard luggage and packed their pre-planned bug out bags accordingly. They each also had their duty pistols with them, and planned to keep it that way for the time being.

As instructed, Peggy replaced the set of company manuals in her RON bag with some casual clothes and a few snack bars that she had packed. A RON bag is the smaller of the two bags that a flight attendant generally carries, with the roll-aboard luggage being the larger of the two. The RON bag typically contains the required items for performance of his or her duties, however, Jason and Evan felt it would also serve well as a bug out bag. Its shoulder strap and smaller size would make it fill in nicely for a backpack.

“So, Peggy, what kind of clothes and stuff did you bring with you that may be useful?” asked Evan.

“Well,” she said, “I have a pair of yoga type stretch pants, some sweat pants, running shoes, a sweat shirt, a long sleeve blouse, some underwear, socks, four snack bars, and my flashlight that I'm required to carry in my RON bag for work. Oh, and my uniform trench coat.”

As Evan and Jason pondered the items she had just listed, they realized that there wasn't much that she had brought with her for durable wear. At least she would be comfortable for extended travel, and several of the items could be doubled up for layered warmth if need be, they thought. The most useful thing she had with her would likely be her uniform trench coat, which could be beneficial for the potential cold nights ahead. It was also of a fairly rugged design which would offer her a certain level of protection if things got rough compared to the rest of her clothes. Jason suggested that they also each take one of the extra blankets from the hotel room closets and stuff them in their bags. Better to take them now and carry the bulk than to freeze to death later he thought.