Eleni grabbed Neri's hand, pulling her out from the remainder of the building. People screamed and wailed, whether it was from pain they were in or the excruciating pain of losing a loved one who was less fortunate. The yells and shouts echoed and rebounded through the air, almost driving the two women over the edge. But, they knew that they were obligated to help the passengers because they weren't injured, and luckier than others.
"Let's go!" Eleni said, and hoisted Neri to her feet.
The two ran towards the charred remains of the plane, but Neri was having second thoughts. "Are you sure this is safe? That thing could blow up any minute!" she said over the roar of flames.
"We don't really have a choice!" Eleni yelled back.
Neri shook her head, biting her cheek as she continued after her little-more-than-dangerous friend. Finally, their sprint came to a halt as the remains of the plane was right in front of them. The inflatable tubes that were meant to help evacuate the passengers were singed and useless, but both parts of the plane had been turned on their sides, so the passengers could luckily still file out--if there were any left. People were starting to get out of the plane, some with severe burns, and others with raw and bloody flesh.
"Don't look," Neri murmured to Eleni when she looked over. "Let's try for the cockpit. Maybe the pilot's still stuck."
"If he's not already..." Eleni swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Here...don't burn yourself when you get up there," Neri said, as she laced her hands together to push Eleni up.
"Thanks." She stepped on Neri's hands, who then pulled Eleni up and into the smouldering remains.
The black, charred rug and metal tore away as she grabbed for it, and had to reach out for better grips. She struggled to pull herself up, but swung her legs to the side and landed on her stomach, sending a plume of soot through the air.
Eleni coughed, and said, "Grab my hands!"
Neri jumped up to latch onto them, and used her feet to help grip and shove herself up, until she fell to the side of Eleni. The two got to their feet, coughing through the smoke as they jogged down the short hall to the broken metal doorway. It was partly unhinged, so with a little effort, both women managed to yank it off the last hinge and threw it to the side. Black smoke exploded in Neri and Eleni's faces as the doorway was unblocked.
Shielding their faces and fanning it away, Eleni blinked back her tearing up eyes and Neri coughed into her arm as they walked in.
"Is anybody here?" Neri called, but there was no noise.
"Anybody?!" Eleni yelled, louder.
The rolling of flames filled the air, and the smoke began to thicken by the moment.
"Get...away..."
"Did you hear that?" Eleni glanced frantically at Neri.
"L-Leave...now..." the cracked voice grumbled.
Neri nodded. "That time I did."
She cautiously walked forward into the cockpit, until she was next to the large window that had shattered. When she looked over her shoulder, a man--or corpse, she couldn't tell--sat in the pilot's seat.
"Oh my God!" Neri's hands covered her mouth, and she motioned for Eleni to come by her side.
Eleni hopped over parts of burning rug to the man, and gasped as well. "Was he the one that..."
"Get...out..." his scratchy voice whispered.
"He's alive! We have to help him!" Eleni exclaimed, and her hands began wrestling with the melted buckles that restrained him.
The man's face was raw and bloody, and the seatbelt had melted to him. If Neri could recall exactly what a zombie looked like, she thought he met the quotas.
"Stop," he said, and Eleni's hands halted. "It's no...use now. I'm a goner."
"Why?" Eleni asked desperately.
The pilot raised his bony hand with a slick tearing noise, and pulled his jacket away from his neck. Less damaged skin was revealed, but in the middle was teeth marks, a bite, that marred and puckered the surface.
"What is that?" she asked, quieter.
He cleared his throat. "A bite...from them..."
"Who?" Neri demanded.
"Neri..." Eleni tried to keep her calm.
"Them...the Restless..."
"Who?!" Neri yelled again.
"Neri, stop!" Eleni warned her, before turning her attention back to the melted seatbelt. She coughed, doubling over from smoke inhalation.
"They...were everywhere." The pilot hacked as well. "One person was infected from...the beginning of the flight. From then...the cabin filled with the infected, and one of them wandered here..." His hand held Eleni's, and gently nudged her away.
"And?" Neri interrogated.
"The flight attendant opened the door to...send him back to his seat...but he bit her, and then came to me..." Tears ran down his flesh. "It bit me, and I pinned him to the panel but he hit something... The equilibrium of the plane changed and...we crashed."
"We have to get him out!" Eleni cried, tugging on the belt with all her might.
Neri put her hands on her shoulders, attempting to pull her back. Eleni struggled, but couldn't pry herself from Neri's grip. Neri gave the pilot a small nod, and the pilot nodded back. "Get her...both of you...out of here before the Restless come."
"I will."
"No!" Eleni yelled again, but Neri began pulling her wrists to get her away.
"He'll turn into one of them, Eleni! Neither of us will be able to stop it, and unless we get out--" Neri coughed, her eyes watering from the broiling smoke. "We'll be trapped in here! We've been here long enough, this whole thing's gonna explode any minute!"
"But...but..." Eleni looked at her feet.
"Let's go!" She shoved Eleni, finally getting her to run out the door, where they both met the end of the hall.
Ducking under the smouldering ashes that fell and the broken wing that pierced the side, both hopped down onto the pavement. Once they hit the ground, they got to their feet and began running.
"The other passengers!" Eleni said, but Neri shook her head.
"There isn't any time!"
When Eleni shot a look over her shoulder, she saw two things she wish she hadn't. One person bit into another's neck, and the man screamed as blood streamed from his neck and he hit the ground. More began to fall from the broken windows, and began to feed on his kicking and writhing body. His screams faded. Secondly, behind him something was dripping before bursting and spilling over the ground. Gasoline.
"Neri...!" she warned, and as the two ran past the wing that had first ripped off, Eleni grabbed Neri's arm.
She pulled her friend behind the busted wing, right as the gas finally lit. There was the deafening roar of flames consuming the fuel before a thunderous boom. The ground shook, and towers of flame shot above their heads. The explosion knocked both of them to the ground, and huddled against the wing as flame rocketed above them, less than a foot from where Neri sat. She shoved Eleni over, trying to shield both of them behind the white scrap metal. They screamed as their ear drums vibrated and nearly burst, and finally, the flame subsided.
Both were breathing raggedly, looking each other over for injuries. "Thanks," Neri huffed, and Eleni smiled emptily.
"No problem."
If Eleni hadn't grabbed Neri when she did, then she'd have been roasted to bits and had her body blown apart.
They peered from behind the wing to see if indeed the explosion was over, but instead, they met a flaming man's face that was less than a foot away from their own. The girls screamed, and scuttled back.
The man's face was covered in singed and melted muscle, his black teeth being licked in flames like the rest of his head, that reeked of burnt hair and clothing. Pink flesh blackened as he stepped forward, and Eleni and Neri jumped back.
"He's..." Eleni started, her hand clasped over her mouth, eyes wide in horror.
"Dead. A Restless," Neri finished gravely, before grabbed Eleni.
He lunged forward sloppily, almost grasping Eleni's leg. Luckily for them, he was slow, but hissed at them as he tried to stand up. What was worse was that there were dozens more behind him, steadily making the way towards the women.
"We have to run!" Eleni yelled, grabbing Neri and sprinting.
Thankfully, both of their terror had faded, and their legs weren't heavy with fear any more. What was better is that Neri used to be a 1000-meter sprint participant, and Eleni was no stranger to sprinting either. Her cardio was above others, due to the fact that she was on--or, used to be on a cheer team and had been to numerous competitions.
"Where are we going?" Neri called as they both sprinted, before she tripped.
She hit the cement of the landing track, skinning her palms. She swore as she kicked off her heels, which had made her fall, and got to her feet again as the Restless grew closer yet. Eleni yanked Neri to her feet, even though she was barefoot. Her feet slapped against the ground alongside Eleni's sneakers, and sped up much more than before.
"The parking lot!" Eleni answered, looking behind her. The Restless still stalked them in steady waves. "We're getting out of here!"
Neri fell behind slightly so she could follow Eleni, because at least one of them had a car--and knew their way around the airport. The sprint was relentless, and took seemingly years. They couldn't take the shortcut through the building because half of it was collapsed, and the screams of trapped people being devoured alive by the Restless kept the women wary. Neri's feet began to get sore as they continuously slapped the pavement, but she bit her teeth and toughed through it. They made a hard right around the corner of the building, towards the parking lot. Both had to jump over the dividers filled with palm trees like hurdles, taking numerous shortcuts through the lot. Eleni's head swayed back and forth as she looked for her car, until Eleni made such a tight left that Neri almost slammed into the tailgate of a parked car.
Regaining her footing, she followed her friend through the tight spots between cars, until they finally came to a jade-green Jeep. Eleni stopped, her hands digging in her pockets for her keys, whispering about how stupid the deep pockets of her shorts were. By the time she found them, Neri had ran to the other side of the vehicle and threw the door open as it unlocked.
The Jeep honked as the driver's door opened, and slammed shut when Eleni jumped inside. Neri already had her seatbelt fastened, and was ready to go. Once Eleni shoved the keys into the engine, she threw her arm around the back of her chair and looked over her shoulder.
Reversing out of the parking spot, she hit drive and slammed her foot on the gas to drive them to the only safe place she knew: home.