“Don’t be patronizing.”
“Then don’t be incompetent.” Darla pointed to the snoring pilot and then to her wrist, tapping it methodically over a non-existent watch.
Grant took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly; the arid climate of Nebraska hurt his lungs. He never knew how much he could miss fresh oxygen. Even when the System tried to pump in its filtrated air, it wasn’t the same, and Grant would long for sun and wind and open places. He’d dream of running free along the tall grass. Maybe just running all the way back to Portland.
He watched Blair as she leaned down over the captain and kicked the bottom of his black shiny shoes with her heels, which were still caked with Private Ryley’s dried blood. Kicking his shoes proved futile, so she moved to jostling his shoulder; the pilot snorted and then jolted awake, his eyes scanning the faces peering down at him.
“Afternoon, Hank,” Blair said when his eyes focused on her. He sat up straight against the leather seatback and took in the scene: a dubious group of dirty, smelly, bloodied passengers. “I need to discuss a change in plans.” Then she looked around her and turned back to him before he could answer. “Alone.”
Hank assessed Blair and then everyone else; he scrunched up his face and tried to ascertain if he was supposed to know the people on his plane. After a second, he said, “You lead the way, boss,” and he stretched upward and slid out of the seat, without much acknowledgment to the others. He motioned to the back part of the cabin and they went that way together, Blair pulling the curtain between first class and the remainder of the plane closed as she walked by—it zipped along the metal rod like an exclamation point.
The group waited and attempted to eavesdrop, but they were too far back to make out any discernable words. Darla stood at attention near the curtain and scrutinized the weary faces in front of her.
“He doesn’t have to take us anywhere,” Ainsley said. “Wouldn’t he have, like, allegiances?”
“He’s a pilot, not a soldier,” Dean added.
“Well, what’s preventing him from taking the whole plane down somewhere in rural New York?” Ainsley added. “I don’t like this. I’d rather drive.”
Darla stole a peek behind the curtain and then motioned for the group to quiet down. “This gets us there faster and with authority," she said.
“Darla’s right...you don’t have another choice,” Grant added. Everyone turned to look at him. “You don’t know these people...but if anyone thinks you exist, they are going to work exceptionally hard to make sure that you don’t. Huck Truman doesn’t like his plans to backfire. He takes it personally.”
“It’s a Truman quality,” said a voice. The curtain ripped open and Blair stood inches from Darla, with Hank by her side. She looked over to Grant and stared at him for a long time, evaluating his presence, and when her focus broke, she cleared her throat and pointed to the pilot. “Well, it’s our lucky day.”
“Oh, yeah?” Darla tried to sound nonplussed.
“Hank will land us right on target at Old Orchard Beach. Once you are all safely hidden, we’ll call for the chopper to take me and Grant to Kymberlin, our home.”
“What does Hank get out of this?” Darla asked.
Ainsley took a step forward, too. “Why should we trust that he isn’t going to go running to the authorities the moment we land?”
Blair’s head spun to Ainsley and she flashed her a look of warning. Then she looked to Darla, “Discussion of payment isn’t necessary. Hank is helping us, and he’ll be properly compensated. That’s all you need to know.”
“Jesus,” Darla breathed. When she looked at Blair, she caught the cautioning glare, too. “Look—”
But Blair interrupted. When she spoke, her voice was wavering, hovering just above a whisper, threatening to break. “No. You look. I saved you from the System, and I’ve secured safe passage. And soon,” she paused and looked to the ground, “I’ll help you reconnect with your son.” She paused, as if the words burned her tongue. Then she swallowed, and met Darla’s eyes. “You don’t know anything. You don’t know about me or my family. But you have to trust me, because you don’t have any other choice. I know that. But it’s true. You don’t.”
“You can trust her,” Grant said, sensing the tension, before Darla could reply. “I trust her,” he added, catching Blair’s eye.
Blair looked away. To the ground, she mumbled, “Thank you.” Then she slid past them and into the cockpit, and the pilot followed after her.
Before Hank shut the door, he turned to the group and cleared his throat. “Nice to meet you all...and I mean it...but here’s the deal. Short runway. Lots of speed and altitude fast. Better sit down and buckle up. This isn’t your average takeoff.”
Hank had called it. They propelled through the air at breakneck speeds before reaching cruising altitude. The group had scattered around the small plane: Grant and Dean sat in the back, sitting next to each other but not talking. Occasionally, Dean would reach over and mess up Grant’s hair and smile. As a reply, Grant would smooth it back in place and smile back.
Ainsley flipped through a dated inflight magazine with deliberate and apathetic flicks of the wrist before falling asleep stretched along a row of seats.
Darla sat and looked out the window to the world below. Her last plane ride, her wife had been by her side. They had been trying to entertain Teddy, letting him unwrap a new coloring book and crayons as a treat. When they landed in Portland, the world was going crazy and people were dying, she was worried. But she didn’t know that soon the virus would take one of the most important people from her life in an instant. She didn’t worry about falling in love again some day; she had no intention of letting another person slip into her life. She was still married. She was still in love. Her family might be broken, but she wouldn’t let it beat her. Only Teddy mattered now.
If it hadn’t been for Ethan, she and Teddy would be dead, too. That powerful realization was enough to keep her awake at night.
Sometimes she wondered if she made the right decision.
Survival was a powerful instinct and the desire to live and fight took over without much forethought. Ethan offered her life and she took it, not understanding what that life would look like.
From the front of the plane, Blair emerged, and she scanned the empty seats. She glanced at each passenger before making a beeline to Darla. It was too late to feign sleep or look engrossed in a magazine, so Darla just watched as she waltzed up the aisle and stood above, and tapped her fingers against the cloth seat back.
“May I sit?” Blair asked and pointed to the seat on the aisle.
Darla motioned that it was okay.
Blair sighed and leaned her head back. The plane caught a bit of turbulence and the cabin jerked for a second before settling back into smoothness.
“How is everyone?” Blair asked.
Darla shrugged. “Tired. Good. A bit wary.”
“Wary?”
“They just want to make sure that the plane lands...and that the pilot upholds his end of the bargain. Our lives depend on it.”
“He will,” Blair said with a defensive tic.
“Look, it’s none of my business, but—” Darla said, shifting her body against the window so she could look at Blair without turning.
“Oh, please.” Blair didn’t move. She waved Darla away. “You don’t know me, but I’d prefer if you spent at least an evening in my presence before assuming that the only thing of value I have to offer anyone is my body.”
“Fair enough,” Darla said. And then after a moment, “But you’re confident? That’s he’s trustworthy.”
“Do you think I’m trustworthy?”
“Grant vouched for you. So, I’m trusting you. I didn’t say it was easy.”
Blair didn’t answer right away. And when she did, she changed the subject. “My brother and I never married. Neither of us,” Blair said. It was such a non-sequitur comment, but Darla didn’t push back. She just kept looking at the woman sitting next to her, watching the way she let her long legs drift out into the aisle of the airplane, and the way she kept tucking a wisp of hair back behind her ear. Blair didn’t look right at Darla as she spoke; she let her eyes settle on the seat in front of her, and she picked at a sticker on the upright tray table. “You see...how do you do that? Invite someone into your life and fall in love with them and then say...I have this secret.”