For several minutes, the only sound was the rotating propellers and the running plane engine. This relative silence however, would be broken as another problem arose. Fahad felt a cough trying force itself out of his throat. Giving in to the urge, a deathly gurgled wheeze sounded itself. As his adrenaline wore off, he felt a sharp pain in his gut. Fahad let go of his torso which he clutched onto and looked down into the palms of his hands. They were soaked in the red of his fresh blood, silently dripping out of a hole he just realised existed in his body.
"Well, it looks like they got your buddy," he said out loud, scouring his hoodie to see if he could locate the wound.
Jason looked through one of the bags as Fahad had begun to feel drowsy and lightheaded.
"Thanks mate," Fahad said as Jason handed him a white undershirt before returning to his plane seat. He wrapped it around his wound, binding it with a very tight knot. He could feel the cloth press against his ribs as it soaked the spills of his injury.
Hayden sighed with relief as the whole plan had succeeded. He turned the microphone towards him, and addressed the cabin crew.
"Good morning, this is your Pilot Hayden and we will be heading to wherever we go. Your trip may or may not be as pleasant as you wish for it to be, but I will do what I can for you to enjoy your flight." He smirked as he heard a quiet laughter from the room behind him. The radar signal screen that stood right beside the yoke did not seem to be working, and several painstaking attempts at getting the uncooperative display to show prompted him to shifting his focus on flying the plane.
"I just realised we never got to know who you were," Fahad said, looking towards the younger boy.
"We don't even know what your name is," Joseph noted.
"My name is Louis," the boy finally answered.
"Nice to meet you, Louis. I'm Jason" Jason reach out his arm. Louis shook Jason's hand
"Nice to meet you, Jason."
Hayden wasn't ready to give up yet. He knew that he needed to get the radar up and working as the plane currently had no form of navigation. To the best of his ability, he tried to remain focused however the exhaustion of a full day's lack of sleep had begun to creep behind him. He was the only one in this plane who knew how to fly it, his life and the lives of four other people rested on his shoulders. He slowly ran his hand below the radar control panel, seeking any buttons to get it up and going. Hayden didn't want to risk letting go off the yoke and driving the plane into disaster, so he decided to increase the altitude so that he wouldn't worry about cliffs and obstacles. With the plane higher in the air, Hayden finally focused on the radar. There were several buttons all across the panel, and he had to be incredibly careful to not turn the wrong switch.
Louis stared out the window. The plane had gotten to such a height that all what was visible to the eye was nothing. The sky was in a sense, barren. Not a cloud was in sight, meaning the survivors were probably still in the Southern Hemisphere. The sun was descending on the other side of the plane, meaning that even its warm orange was there to be seen out the window. A monotonous yet calm purple, for such great distances and such long times. Hayden had finally found the switch that he was looking for. After turning the switch, the screen finally materialised. They were in the South Indian Ocean, thousands of kilometres from any land. He grabbed the microphone, preparing to inform the survivors that he'd made a breakthrough.
"I have found a signal, there are about one hundred radio connections on a global scale. Currently, we are in the South Indian Ocean and we will reach the Middle East within seven hours."
As Louis looked out the window, he noticed an unusual occurence. What seemed to be a peppered pattern in the sky that grew continuously
"What's going on?" Asked Joseph. Fahad turned his head towards his window, with a sense of familiarity. He saw several dark brown circles, each suspended in the darkening sky by a pair of black wings. He cleared his through with another choked cough.
"I think my cousin talked about these once," he said
"Your cousin?" Questioned Jason, "what did he say about them?"
"He said they were known as "the breakers" and that they live in very high altitudes. We should fly down a bit, because they look like they're hurling their bodies against the plane."
Jason undid his seatbelt and got out of his chair to head to the cockpit. Fahad followed too, however he struggled. His gut stung him as he raised himself to his feet, and leaned on each chair with each painstaking step.
Hearing footsteps in the cabin, Hayden addressed the two. "You hear the weird banging going on outside."
Fahad struggled to find the words as he began coughing again.
"You alright buddy?" Asked Hayden.
"Yeah I'm just hurt a bit," Replied Fahad, making sure that his agony was not noticeable.
"They're called the "breakers", as Fahad told us" Jason said.
"The breakers? What kind of name is that?" Commented Hayden. Fahad cleared his throat.
"They're basically throwing themselves against the plane, but they're not too difficult to deal with. Just go lower"
Hayden moved the yoke forwards, and the plane tilted slightly forwards as it descended from the darkening sky. The loud banding that occurred slowly began to quiet, becoming so infrequent that eventually none of the survivors realised it had ceased altogether. The plane glided gracefully through the night sky, its light representing the last semblance of humanity for several miles. After knocking on death's door, the moment of peace and tranquillity had introduced itself. A simple pleasant memory after all what they had endured was the ultimate reward, such a great distance from the threats that sought to conquer their lives. This was only the beginning, but the moment to breathe had finally arrived.
After several hours of peace had passed, the dark sky began to turn orange as it welcomed the sun once more. Another day has passed, and the survivors still persisted. Though their trials had just begun, the hope after their first victory had persuaded them that they would finally find an answer to this. The plane was only an hour away from the waterfront of the mighty Arabian Peninsula, the great lands that were once Fahad's home. The plane had just enough fuel to carry them past their destination, but that wasn't needed as they intended to complete the journey on foot.
As the time drew to a close, and Hayden prepared the plane for its descent, a number of large shadows loomed above the plane. Jason, still in the cockpit, was the first one to notice. He looked out of the window to see the shadow of movement cast above him. Jason alerted Hayden, who then moved the plane to the right. Fahad, who had crouched near the pilot's chair whilst recovering from his wounds pulled himself to his feet. Two smaller aircraft smoothly descended on either side of the plane, whilst two others surrounded it from the front and back, effectively trapping them in an encirclement.
"These are harrowers..." Whispered Hayden
"Harrowers?" Asked Fahad
"They were there when I was Greece, small aircraft built to attack as a group." Hayden leaned towards the right, looking closely at the plane's wing. His blood ran cold as he recognised the insignia imprinted on each one's wing.
