We Who Remain Read online

  WE WHO REMAIN

  By

  JACQUELINE DRUGA

  We Who Remain - Jacqueline Druga

  We Who Remain - Copyright 2019 by Jacqueline Druga

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any person or persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  I put my ‘thank you for your help’ right here and I truly mean it when I say it. Thank you to Paula, Kira and Connie N for all your help!

  Cover Art by Christian Bentulan

  www.coversbychristian.com

  For my Mom.

  1 - Zip

  Flight 6520 Vegas to New York

  When he should have been pulling breakfast plates for first class, flight attendant Brandon Leer was checking his phone. He pursed lips in a pouting disappointment. “Damn it,” he said.

  Sarah, another flight attendant in the galley looked at him. “What are you doing?”

  “Checking my schedule. I’ve been waiting for this one to post. But I’ll be in Europe.”

  “That’s not a bad thing.”

  “It is when you are on the opposite side of the world, more than likely sleeping after a red eye, it’ll be daylight … mind you when Olympias comes.”

  “Oh.” Sarah gave a fling of her hand. “Why do you care?”

  “It’s only the biggest event of our lives, my sister and I planned to watch it together. It goes back to our childhood.” Brandon’s fingers moved on the phone. “I’m letting my sister know I can’t. She’s gonna be so upset.”

  “So, your twin is a forty year old geek as well?”

  Brandon gasped. “Bite your tongue woman, we aren’t forty.” He paused. “She just looks it. I got all the good aging genes.” He finally placed away his phone and started to help.

  Sarah laughed. “You can look at the bright side. You have the offspring you can see,” she said, sliding trays in the cart.

  “Offspring please,” Brandon scoffed with a partial raspberry of his lips. “One will land somewhere without even a burp, and the other will fly right by. Both too small to even matter. Olympias is huge. Huge. Maybe someone will switch with me.”

  “I doubt that, you can try. Everyone wants to see it,” Sarah said.

  “Can you switch?”

  “No way, I have a viewing party.”

  “See! See.” Brandon said with irritation. “Everyone is having parties. Damn it. It’s just like that movie. It’s the whole reason we wanted to view it together. Our father showed us this cult classic movie and her and I watch it a lot. We were just talking about it.”

  “You ramble. What movie?”

  Brandon opened his mouth to speak when the ‘ding’ of the Captain making an announcement came overhead.

  “Folks, this is your captain. Looks like you have a front row seat to something this side of the world won’t see when it makes its pass around. If you look out of the left side …”

  Brandon knew what he was talking about and made his way to the nearest window, phone in hand.

  “… of the plane,” the Captain continued. “You’ll see a little light. That would be Pyrrhus.”

  “See!” Sarah said with a pat to his back. “You’re seeing something no one else is.”

  “Yeah,” Brandon said with wide eyes, like an amazed child. “My sister has to see this.” Phone still on messenger, he opened the camera to record. “Look, Liv, look what I get to see.”

  He centered on the white object.

  “That folks,” the Captain said. “Is set to make a close pass in four days.”

  “It looks like it’s getting closer,” Brandon narrated. “Just a small speck, growing. Wait, is that another one? Nah, just an illusion.”

  “Looks close,” The Captain said. “But in reality it’s …”

  A loud roaring and rumbling sound drowned out the Captain’s voice. It was so loud and deafening, the entire plane vibrated and shook. Overhead bins popped open, items toppled to the ground.

  There was a weird sway to the plane, and the panicked sounds of passenger’s carried to him.

  “What the hell?” Brandon said.

  The roaring grew louder.

  “We have to go!” Sarah slapped him on the shoulder.

  Brandon kept the phone by the window for a split second and hit send, not only as the sound reached its loudest, but as the plane was illuminated with the brightest of lights.

  <><><><>

  North Ridgeville, - Suburb, Cleveland, Ohio

  As if the double chirp bell wasn’t enough to signify a message, Liv’s phone also vibrated so much it did a dance across her kitchen table.

  The table was set up in the corner and Liv, coffee mug in both hands, sat nestled leaning into the wall.

  “Jesus, Liv,” Mark, her husband reached down and silenced the phone. “Aren’t you going to read that?”

  “No. No,” she waved out her hand. “It’s just Brandon.”

  “Why is your brother messaging you instead of texting?”

  “Because he’s on a flight,” she spoke rushed. “He can’t text. Just shh.”

  “Wait. Why are you telling me to shush?”

  She dropped her voice low. “Because I’m ...” She pointed to the wall.

  The loud male voice on the other side blasted, “Why? Just tell me why you did this. If there’s a good reason.”

  Liv shook her head. “Such a fool.”

  “Liv, what are you talking about, and why are you paying attention to someone’s phone argument?”

  “Oh, he’s not on the phone. She’s in there. She’s just talking really meek and all. See she had an …”

  “I don’t care.” Mark cut her off. “This is not right. Stop. You shouldn’t be eavesdropping”

  “I can’t help it, plus you know what they say about people who live in glass houses.”

  “They shouldn’t throw stones,” Mark said. “What in the world does that have to do with this?”

  “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, people who live in rowhouses shouldn't have loud screaming matches.”

  “Town house.”

  “Row house, same difference,” Liv said. “You know when you move in people hear you, why do you think I suggest we ride in the car to fight?”

  “So, Danni doesn’t hear us.”

  Liv flung out her hand. “Nothing affects her. No matter what you do or how hard I try, you are always right and she’s always on your side.”

  “True. But, stop listening.”

  “I can’t help it, he’s loud. I can’t help but hear.”

  “Just because you hear someone doesn’t mean you have to listen to what they’re saying.”

  “So, pretend I’m a husband.”

  Mark huffed.

  “What if he tried to kill her and I don’t hear because I’m not listening?”

  “He isn’t gonna kill her,” Mark said. “Mitch is too nice of a guy, and that’s probably what his problem is.”

  “Whose Mitch?”

  “The guy next door, the one whose privacy you’re stomping on. Stop.” Mark poured a cup of coffee.

  “Morning, Mom, morning Daddy.” The teenage girl, dressed in a basic tee shirt and jeans, walked into the kitchen, kissed her father then poured a cup of coffee. “I need one of you to sign my permission slip for Pyrrhus. I have to turn it in today.”

  “Why am I just hearing about this?” Liv asked. “What do you need permission for?”

  “Science club, we’re going to Observatory Park. We have to meet at the school at nine, it’s an overnight thing.”

  “I would think so,” Liv said. “Pyrrhus is set to pass around
two in the morning. Are you planning on missing school?”

  “Kinda, sort of,” Danni replied. “At least go in late? Please.”

  “Sure.” Liv shrugged.

  “So, you need any chaperones?” Liv asked. “I’m off.”

  Danni shook her head. “No, we’re good.”

  “What?” Liv turned her head to Mark. “Are you going?”

  “No, I’m working that night at the hospital. Maybe Liv,” Mark walked by her and paused to kiss her. “Maybe she just wants to be with friends.”

  “I guess, I mean I was a …” Liv jumped when the male voice from next door hollered out. “They’re at it again.”

  Mark shook his head. “If you want a ride into town, you better get ready,” he told Liv. “Ten minutes tops.”

  “Got it.” She gave a thumbs up.

  Danni laughed. “Mom, what are you doing?”

  “Listening. It’s better than TV.”

  “That’s rude. Mitch is such a nice guy. His wife isn’t.”

  “How do you and Dad know him?”

  “We talk to our neighbors,” Danni shrugged. “Not all of us are anti-social.” Coffee in hand, she walked out of the kitchen.

  “I am social for my job, I don’t want ...” Liv waved out her hand when she knew her daughter was out of ear shot. She glanced at her phone to see a message and video from Brandon, she’d opt to watch it later. For the time being she wanted to finish her breakfast and hear how it played out with her next door neighbor.

  <><><><>

  Flight 6520 Vegas to New York

  First Officer Bob Stevens was hungry. So, taking the early morning trip down to the cargo area wasn’t a bad thing, it broke up the monotony of waiting on breakfast for his redeye flight. Except it was bitter cold down there, and that drove him nuts.

  Early morning turbulence not only shook the passengers, the Captain feared it shook the fragile cargo shipping to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. An item the curator personally called about and requested handling with care.

  Bob went down there, everything was good. It was while he was there that he heard the Captain.

  “Folks, this is your captain. Looks like you have a front row seat to something this side of the world won’t see when it makes its pass around. If you look out of the left side of the plane, you’ll see a little light. That would be Pyrrhus. That folks, is set to make a close pass in four days.”

  “Damn it,” Bob said aloud. “I’m missing it.”

  Then he thought, ‘Maybe if I hurry up, I can still see it.’

  He radioed an all clear that all was fine in cargo, and not paying attention to the fact he didn’t get a response, he made his way through Cargo to the ladder.

  The second he reached for the first wrung, looking up to the open hatch door, the plane vibrated so fiercely, it slammed the hatch shut and sent him flying back to the floor.

  He slid on his back a few feet and rolled, crashing into a large crate.

  What the hell was going on? It wasn’t any turbulence like he had ever felt. It took a minute for everything to calm down and Bob staggered to the ladder again.

  “What’s going on up there?” Bob radioed.

  Nothing.

  “Captain?” he tried again. When he still didn’t receive a response, he began his ascent.

  Once he made it to the hatch, it took some maneuvering. It felt stuck. Finally, he pushed it open. The second he did he was blasted with a smell.

  A slight burning smell mixed with sulfur.

  He emerged into the rear galley where a thin veil of white smoke lingered, he wondered what was burnt, maybe first class burned the breakfast. It didn’t come from the back, there were no flight attendants in there. In fact, there was no noise.

  He didn’t think much about it until he turned to walk out of the galley, and not only did his foot get caught on something, he felt an almost squishy sensation beneath his foot.

  “What the hell?” Bob slowly lowered his gaze. Beneath his foot was what appeared to be a flight attendant uniform. Steam emerged from it and when he raised his foot, whatever substance it was, carried with him.

  Carefully he stepped over it and into the main cabin.

  Immediately, Bob froze. He turned from left to right in a panic, then rushed up the aisle looking all around. It couldn’t be real. It had to be a dream. Did he hit his head?

  At twenty thousand feet, it wasn’t possible.

  Where did everyone go?

  Every single passenger and crew on the plane … was gone.

  2 – AFFECTS

  Cleveland Center – Cleveland International Airport

  Mid sip, Roy hiccupped causing not only the hot liquid to splash up at him, but to fall into a coughing fit when he inhaled the coffee.

  He swiped his hand down his shirt and hacked out, trying to clear his airways. It was then the radio call came in as he sat at his controls.

  “Cleveland Center, this … this is Flight 6520.”

  There was shaky tone to the male voice, and without the flight saying anything, Roy knew it meant trouble.

  “This is Cleveland Center, we read you 6520. Go ahead.”

  “This is first officer Stevens. Cleveland, I need to land.”

  Roy clipped off the radio and located the plane on his radar. “We have a plane needing to land. What’s the situation?”

  “Whoa, whoa, hold up,” the supervisor said. “This plane is supposed to land in New York. What’s the nature of their emergency? Find out before we clear and if they can make it to New York.”

  Roy nodded. “6520, are you in Mechanical failure?”

  “No, we are not.”

  “Low on fuel?” Roy asked.

  “No, we’re good.”

  “6520, are you placing a distress call?”

  When the First Office returned to the radio, he laughed emotionally and said. “Oh my God, just let me fucking land.”

  “6520, please calm down. What is the nature of your emergency?”

  “I went down to Cargo,” he said.” I came back up. Jesus … they’re dead.”

  “Who? Who is dead 6520?”

  “Everyone. The passengers, the crew, they’re dead …” he replied. “They’re all dead.”

  Rudy Richter had been an Operations manager for eighteen years, before that he worked his way up in the Air traffic Control chain of command. In all his thirty years combined, Rudy had never once received or heard of anyone receiving a distress call in which the entire manifest was dead.

  There had to be a mistake.

  As he made his way down to the field and designated runway where flight 6520 would land, he ran different scenarios through his mind. It couldn’t have been a lack of oxygen because the First Officer wasn’t affected. Perhaps it was a flash fire. That wouldn’t explain how it reached the captain in the cockpit, however, especially if the door was closed.

  But no scenario came close to explaining what Stevens said he saw.

  “This is the OM,” Rudy took over the radio. “Explain to me … all dead.”

  Stevens replied emotionally charged, “What more is needed to be said?”

  “Could they be unconscious?”

  “There’s nothing left of them. Nothing. No bodies or nothing that seems like a body. Dead.”

  Nothing left?

  It was insane to even imagine. It wouldn’t be long though before he didn’t have to imagine. To be on the safe side, Rudy called in every department. Fire, EMS, Homeland, CDC, FAA.

  If indeed every passenger was dead and nothing remained, it would fall into the jurisdiction of one of those organizations and answers would be given.

  <><><><>

  North Ridgeville, - Suburb, Cleveland, Ohio

  He called off again, probably not the best thing to do, but there was no way Mitch Connelly could focus enough to work. His wife, again, had to work late. Maybe it was wrong and maybe he should have relied on trust, but it was happening too much, too frequently, so Mitch went to her
office at the law firm where she was a paralegal. As expected, she wasn’t there, no one was.

  He waited until she got back home at three in morning and approached her about it.

  The last thing he expected was for her to be honest and tell him, “You’re right, I wasn’t working, I was with Travis. We’ve been together six months. In fact, I’m glad this is out. I’m leaving. I love him.”

  BAM.

  Did she need to tell him that much? Wasn’t there any remorse? She didn’t issue one apology, nor would she even give him a good explanation as to why.

  “I work really hard, I try to keep good hours,” Mitch said.

  “Mitch you work for public works. Sometimes you spend a day in a sewer. Do you know how bad you smell when you get home?”

  “Oh my God,” Mitch argued. “I hose down before coming in here and that is not a reason to cheat.”

  “I wouldn’t say cheat. I didn’t cheat.”

  “What would you call it?”

  “I fell in love with somebody else.”

  Ouch.

  She finally finished packing shortly after seven and was gone.

  Mitch then realized he was going to have an entire day to mope around the house. And if he was going to do that he would do so with a new television.

  In fact, he decided he was going to go and buy everything that she said he couldn’t. She wasn’t coming back and even if she did, Mitch wasn’t so sure he’d trust her enough to take her back. They were only married ten months and she met somebody else.

  At least his mother would be glad to hear it. She warned Mitch not to marry Elise, they only knew each other a few months and to quote his mom, she told him, ‘There’s just something shady about that girl.’

  Mitch’s argument was she worked for personal injury lawyers, how shady could she be?

  He would call his mom after she got back from Vegas. Which wouldn’t be long. He 'sent her a text message she would see when she landed.