The Fall of Society (The Fall of Society Series, Book 1) (6 page)

           
Elizabeth
knocked on the restroom that Peter was in. “Peter, are you okay?” she said but got
no response. “Peter?” and then she looked down and saw the blood that soaked
the door seam. “What the…?”

           
She
pulled out a special key to unlock the door…

           
The
creature thrust onto the captain and pinned him to the floor; he tried to push
it away from him, but the thing bit into one of his hands and tore away most of
his palm and took his thumb. The captain shouted in terrible pain, and then the
corpse clamped down on his neck, its savage jaws closed, and the teeth tore out
a large chunk of flesh. The captain’s severed arteries
pumped
blood everywhere.

           
Elizabeth
unlocked the restroom door and opened it slowly, she saw what it was inside—it
was all red—blood covered almost everything and lying on the floor in the
middle of it, was Peter, huddled on his knees. “Jesus Christ!” Elizabeth
muttered in a panic. “Peter!”

           
The
captain was in a death rattle as the dead one feasted on him, the others
gathered themselves and rushed to help him. Mark and Charlie grabbed the creature
by the shoulders and tried to pull it away from the captain, but it swung its
arm around and knocked Charlie in the face; he fell back out of control. It attacked
Mark and bit into his arm; he pulled back to get away shouting in fierce pain.
Karen gasped in horror, and the rabid monster saw her, growled viciously, and
sprang off the captain’s lifeless body to attack her.

           
She
screamed in terror—and this time, her voice worked perfectly: Everyone on
the plane heard it…

           
Elizabeth
was about to check Peter for signs of life when she heard the echo of Karen’s distant
scream from the second deck. She turned in its direction and that’s when Peter
turned around on his knees toward her.

           
It
wasn’t Peter.

           
It
grabbed her, clutched at her legs, and then bit into her thigh. She bellowed in
agony so loud that the sound waves vibrated the ribbons of blood that gushed
from her leg. Other flight attendants and nearby passengers saw the attack;
they froze from confusion and shock.

           
It
was brutal.

           
The
thing that was once Nick bolted for Karen and was almost on top of her, until
the air marshal tackled it to the ground. It clawed and scratched as George pinned
it down with a bear hug, but it kicked and thrashed violently to get away. It
tried to bite George’s face but couldn’t reach, so it bit his arm. Its teeth
tore through his jacket and into his bicep. The air marshal grit his teeth in
pain, and then Charlie pulled the creature off him, he tried to hold it facedown
with his knees in its back, but it had incredible strength. He almost lost
control as it tried to attack him and then George got up and helped him subdue
the thing. The air marshal pulled out a pair of handcuffs and shackled its
hands behind its back.

           
They
got off it because it was covered in blood, and they could smell urine and
excrement from it. It flailed like a wild animal as it tried to get up, but couldn’t.
It pulled at the handcuffs again and again, but couldn’t break the steel.

           
It
kept trying aggressively.

           
Growling
madly.

           
Pulling
at the cuffs with everything it had…

           
The
thing that was Peter was wrapped around Elizabeth’s thigh, ripping part of her leg
out, it looked up at her and growled with a mouthful of flesh. She looked into
its eyes that were stretched open and its wide pupils were dilated black
circles that resembled caves that went straight down to Hell, and that
terrified her more than the pain she felt in her leg. The thing pulled
Elizabeth to the floor and pounced on her, its filthy hands tore through her
clothes as it reached for her and then it fingers punctured her abdomen. She
let out a spasm of screams as blood peppered her face. It bit near her eye,
tore out most of her cheek. Skin stretched and ripped as it pulled the flesh away
in its jaw.

           
A
male attendant ran to her aid. “Peter, what’re you doing, get off of her!”

           
It
turned to the attendant and focused its mutated eyes on him with a long growl
of intent. The attendant was immediately overcome with fear at the sight of the
thing, which wasted no time as it abandoned the girl, and sprang to its feet.

           
The
attendant had no time to retreat.

           
Charlie
and the air marshal had barely caught their breaths when they heard the screams
of Elizabeth down below. “What the devil is going on?” Charlie shouted.

           
“I’ll
go check,” George volunteered.

           
“What
about your arm?” Charlie asked.

           
“I’ll
be fine.”

           
Charlie
looked at Mark who was tying a towel around his wounded arm. “Mark, are you
okay?”

           
“I’m
fine, go see what’s happening,” Mark said and then motioned to the handcuffed
animal. “I’ll keep an eye on that thing.”

           
“Where’s
the captain?” George asked incredulously.

           
They
looked at the floor where the captain fell and he was gone, only bloodstains
remained.

           
“There
he is!” Karen pointed.

           
They
saw a glimpse of him as he went down the stairs.

           
“Captain?”
Charlie called out.

           
Charlie
and the air marshal went after him.

           
“Karen,
go and calm the passengers in business,” Mark said.

           
Karen
didn’t answer; she was transfixed on the handcuffed thing that thrashed to get
free.

           
“Karen!”
he shouted.

           
She
snapped out of it. “Yes!”

           
“Go
and calm the passengers in business class.”

           
“Yes,
of course.”

           
She
went back to the flight attendant station and opened the privacy curtain to get
through, the curtains provided no barrier against sound, so when she opened the
other curtain to the business class side, she found all the passengers in
apprehension as to what was going on.

           
“Please,
everyone, if you would take your seats, I’ll try to explain what has happened.”
she said.

           
None
of them sat down.

           
Charlie
and George found the captain halfway down the staircase, he had his hand
pressed against his neck, but blood squirted in between his fingers with the
pace of his dying heart. He took each step slowly and used his mangled hand
with no thumb to grip the hand railing; it red-washed the rail’s fine wood.

           
“Captain,
where are you going?” Charlie asked.

           
“I
need…get back…cockpit,” he mumbled with delirious, pale lips.

           
“You
need to sit down,” Charlie said and helped by holding him as he looked at
George. “Go.”

           
The
air marshal left and hurried to the rear of the plane.

           
Jeffrey
and Richard were out of their seats trying to see what was happening in the
rear of the plane when George came down the stairs and dashed past them.

           
“Oy!
What’s going on?” Jeffrey shouted.

           
“Stay
in your seats!” the air marshal shouted and kept going.

           
“This
isn’t good, mate,” Jeffrey said to Richard.

           
“I
know.”

           
George
raced by Paul in his seat. “George, what in blazes is going on?”

           
“Stay
in your seat, Paul!” he said in a blur.

           
Charlie
reached the bottom of the stairs with the captain in tow. Jeffrey and Richard
saw them. “Holy crap! What happened to him?” Richard asked.

           
“He
was attacked,” Charlie said.

           
“Attacked?
By what, a tiger?” Jeffrey said.

           
“Help
me, damn you!” Charlie told them.

           
They
helped carry the captain and they sat him down across from the cockpit door, Charlie
grabbed some towels from a cabinet and placed them against the captain’s neck
wound, applying pressure to stop the bleeding.

           
The
cockpit door opened, and Jimmy saw his chief pilot covered in blood. “Charlie,
what happened to the captain?” he asked nervously.

           
“Jimmy,
close that door and don’t open it for anybody, but me! Understood?” Charlie
ordered.

           
“What’s
happened?” Jimmy asked.

           
“Close
the door and call it in!” Charlie shouted.

           
“Call
in what?” Jimmy asked.

           
“Tell
them that the captain has been attacked by a passenger! Now close the bloody
door!”

           
Jimmy
did as he was instructed; the door closed and locked.

           
Charlie
looked at Jeffrey and Richard. “Thank you, you can go back to your seats and
try to remain calm,” he told them.

           
“Remain
calm? Are you insane?” Jeffrey shouted.

           
“Is
there a killer onboard?” Richard asked.

           
“No,
it was a sick man,” Charlie answered.

           
“What
kind of sick man does this?” Jeffrey demanded.

           
Before
Charlie could answer, the captain exhaled loudly and stopped breathing. “No,
no, no!” Charlie exclaimed. He yanked the captain down and laid him on the
floor so he could perform CPR…

           
The
steward’s eyes were wide open from terror as droplets of blood landed all over
his forehead. The dead Peter was ripping into his chest and throat; it had
tackled him over a seat and they were both on top of another terrified
passenger. The beast saw the woman underneath the steward and reached for her
face. She screamed, and it grabbed her by the lower jaw and yanked violently,
severing her tongue and pulling it out in streams of blood. All the passengers
had scattered as they tried to get away from the horror unfolding before them.

           
“Hey!”
the air marshal called to it.

           
It
was eating the woman’s tongue when it stood up to George’s call. The air
marshal was standing twenty feet away in a tactical stance, aiming his sidearm
at Peter. It lurched forward at him and he took careful aim.

           
He
placed his finger on the trigger…

           
It
ran faster for him…

           
He
took a deep breath—

           
It
was ten feet from him…

           
He
held his breath—

           
The
thing opened its mouth for savagery…

           
He
pulled the trigger—

           
A
spent nine-millimeter shell casing fell to the carpet…

           
It
wouldn’t be alone for long…

           
The
bullet hit the creature in the center of its chest—

           
It
stopped shortly from the impact…

           
And
then it charged for him again…

           
George
couldn’t believe that it didn’t go down, and then he fired again—

           
Hitting
it in the heart, but it kept coming…

           
Then
the air marshal aimed for its
head
…

           
He
was about to fire—until Elizabeth tackled him from the side, her face
stretched in a rage of the dead—the one with two bullets holes in its
chest joined in and they both began tearing through the air marshal’s clothes
to get at his flesh. His gun fell out of his hand, bounced off a seat and out
of sight.