The military transport plane was huge.
“We’ll get this show on the road as soon as you’re all buckled in,” Langridge said, watching as they each took their seats.
“Is there a movie on this flight?” Rich asked, wiggling his butt, trying to find a comfortable position. “They’re really scrimping in first class these days,” he said, reaching for his seat belt.
Cody just shook his head, barely able to crack a smile at his friend’s attempt to lighten the mood. He took an empty seat away from the rest of the group.
Sidney watched him as he buckled himself in and turned to look out at Benediction Airport.
“The airfield isn’t used to stuff this big,” Cody said. “Remember a few years back when Air Force One landed for the president’s vacation? They had to repair the runway after it left.”
“I remember that,” Sidney said, feeling a certain lightness at the memory of a time before things had gone to hell. She wished briefly that she was back there, when her father had been healthy—when he had still been alive.
When the island had not tried to kill them.
“She’s gonna need to be strapped in,” said a voice, breaking Sidney’s reverie.
Sidney looked up to see Langridge standing before her, pointing at the dog nearly sitting on her feet.
“Sure,” Sidney said, catching Snowy’s attention and patting the seat next to her.
The German shepherd hopped up and sat awkwardly in the seat.
“There ya go,” Sidney said, kissing her head as she reached around her for the buckle and snapped the belt in place. Snowy looked at her questioningly.
“It’s all right,” Sidney told her, patting her chest. “It’s for your safety.”
The shepherd began to pant but didn’t move.
“That’s a good girl,” Sidney said, strapping herself in.
Karol and Fitzy silently took seats off to the right, and Sidney caught the grim looks on their faces.
She wondered how many times they’d done this already, how many times they’d had to witness something like the devastation that Benediction had experienced last night.
Sayid returned from the cockpit, where he had been speaking with the pilot, Bob.
“Ready?” Langridge asked him.
“Just about,” Sayid said, taking his own seat. “Everything okay back here?”
Everyone glanced in his general direction, although no one said a word.
“Bob said we shouldn’t be in the air for much more than forty minutes,” he continued. “Maybe an hour depending on how bad the storm screws with our approach to Logan.” He took a deep breath and looked around at everybody. “Okay then,” he said. “Let’s get this done.”
As if on cue the engines whined to life, filling the compartment with the loud hum of the four propellers, two on either side, spinning so fast that they became nearly invisible.
“Here goes,” Rich said, gripping the arms of his seat.
Sidney found herself doing the same, looking to see if Snowy was okay. She seemed nervous, so Sidney reached over and placed a comforting hand upon her broad chest, scratching her thick, white fur.
“That’s a good girl,” she said, her words nearly drowned out by the deafening din of the plane’s engines, but it didn’t matter to her Snowy girl, her world was silent anyway.
The transport shuddered and began to move.
This is it, Sidney thought, feeling her heart begin to race. And then it was there in her head again—that wriggling sensation just inside the front of her skull. A wave of nausea flowed over her, and she bent forward in her seat.
“Sid?” she heard Cody yell.
“Stay in your seat,” Langridge commanded.
“I’m good,” Sidney said. “Little headache is all.”
She managed to sit up and offer a reassuring smile to the group. I’m fine, she mouthed toward Cody and Rich, who stared hard at her, concern on their faces.
The transport rolled slowly toward the runway.
Sidney tried to keep a good face, or at least one that didn’t look as though she was about to throw up. But something was wrong; something had riled up whatever was inside her head, and she wished that it would stop.
She could feel Sayid’s eyes on her and ignored them. Instead, she reached out to Snowy, hoping that petting her would be enough to distract her from the nauseating sensation, as she imagined a fistful of maggots squirming around at the front of her skull.
The engines became even louder as the transport picked up speed, rolling down the runway toward the sea.
Sidney leaned her head back against the seat and closed her eyes, feeling the vibrations of the plane through the headrest. And suddenly it was as if someone had stabbed her in the center of her forehead. She let out a pained squeak and sat up with a gasp.
“Jesus,” she heard Langridge say, just as the plane left the ground—
And the attack began.
The plane started to tremble and shake as it climbed.
It sounded as if the craft was being pelted by rocks.
Langridge looked to Sayid.
“What now?” she bellowed over the engines that had started to sound strained.
Rich had just angled himself in his seat to look out the window when something smashed against it, leaving a bloody smear. “Oh shit,” he exclaimed.
Cody had unbuckled himself and was standing up to get a better look out the window.
“Return to your seat!” Langridge screamed, even though she and Sayid had both freed themselves.
“Birds,” Sidney heard Cody say. He looked away from the window to stare at them. “We’re being attacked by birds.”
The plane lurched and fell. Sidney let out a scream as her stomach shot up into her throat. She watched as Cody was thrown up into the air, and then fell awkwardly back into his seat.
“They’re going after the propellers,” Rich screamed.
Sayid, who had fallen to the floor, was struggling to make his way up the aisle toward the cockpit.
The plane was making a horrible sound now.
Sidney glanced over at Karol and Fitzy, who remained belted into their seats, and saw that they were holding hands. She leaned over and wrapped her arms around Snowy, trying to calm the panicked animal, as well as herself. They were going down—she knew it.
The sound of birds pummeling the aircraft was unlike anything she had ever heard before. She was expecting their feathered bodies to fill the cabin as they punched through the sides of the plane.
Langridge had managed to get back into her seat, but Sayid was still trying to get to the cockpit. “Hold on!” he screamed as he was suddenly flung up toward the ceiling of the craft as if by a great invisible hand, before dropping back down to the floor.
Then the engines quit; the smell of something burning filled the suddenly silent cabin.
And they began to fall.