"And that will be $48.94, would you like cash or card?" The waitress at the restaurant in the airport stood on my mom's left side. My mother pulled out her credit card and handed it to the woman, who slid it into the chip and charged us for our food.
We were finishing up dinner at the airport before our flight left at 7 o'clock. Because of Daylight savings, which had passed just two weeks ago, it was already dark outside. I was sat next to Sam, my sleepy head on his shoulder. There was an uneven silence that was clinging to our family. Even Lucas, who was normally a babbling buffoon, was quiet and behaved. Goosebumps had risen on my arms since I had shredded my yellow raincoat. All I was wearing was my yellow Beastie Boys shirt. I had custom ordered it a few years ago and cut the sleeves off. Unfortunately, I had left my sweater in my suitcase, so all I had was my raincoat for warmth, which didn't do me any good.
"Okay you guys, lets get up," My dad said, tucking his phone and wallet into his pockets. I forced myself to sit up and put my jacket back on, luckily dry now. Charlie and Lucas slid off the couch of the booth we had been in, Charlie helping Lucas with his jacket. My parents grabbed the one bag we had carried on, which had food and snacks for everyone.
"Hey, lighten up sista," Sam said, poking me lightly with his elbow. I gave him a forced smile, but there was an ache around my heart that wouldn't go away. "Finn," Sam said. He was giving me a look.
"Yes?" I asked, slightly harsher than I meant to. Sam grabbed my shoulder, and pulled us back to where we were the cabooses of our family's parade down the airport hallways.
"They're gonna try to come out, remember? It's all gonna be fine," Sam tried. I pursed my lips, looking away. My small backpack felt heavy despite the fact that it only had my laptop, my headphones, the charger for it and my phone, and my music bag, which was basically a makeup bag with a tuner, a handful of picks, and 2 capos. My parents had let me take my guitar with me, which was the biggest relief in the world, but I had to check it. The only other thing that was in there was my heavy-duty knee brace, just incase I needed it. The one I was wearing now was just a simple sleeve, meant to be used with the bloody crutch I still had.
"How do we know that Sam?" I asked bitterly. Sam huffed, his —
Crack.
Shatter.
Screams.
Silence.
Sam didn't have time to respond as a sonic blast hit the airport. The ground rumbled for a split second before light was blazing in front of me and I was getting tossed back. I flew backwards into the glass wall of the walkway, my backpack slamming into my shoulder blades painfully. Luckily the glass didn't crack, but I hit the ground hard and felt fire flaring in front of me.
There was a ringing in my ears that blocked out any sound. But I was able to pry open my eyes and take in the destruction. Dust floated through the air in thick clouds, and I found myself choking on it. Everything seemed to move in slow motion.
I peeled myself off the floor, groaning when I put weight on my knee. My one crutch was nowhere to be seen. I blinked around, pulling my backpack off in a haze. Sirens blared faintly in the distance, but I couldn't see far enough to identify a source. With shaking fingers, I pried open my backpack and slid the heavy-duty knee brace on, knowing I wouldn't be able to get anywhere without it. I slung my backpack back on, heaving myself up using the ledge of the window I had been tossed into. I finally raised my eyes to the scene, taking in the horrid destruction.
The left wall had been blown apart completely.
My breathing was gone, and no oxygen was coming back anytime soon. Tears pricked at the back of my head as I whipped my head around. Mom...Dad...Sam? Lucas? Charlie?
They were nowhere to be seen. Paramedics were everywhere. One was running up to me.
"Miss, miss can you hear me?" An young woman ran up to me, waving a light in front of my eyes. I blinked hazily, trying to figure out what she was saying.
"What...?" I mumbled. The ringing in my ears wouldn't go away. The woman was about to say something else but there was high pitched screaming in the air. I turned frantically towards the sound, my eyes whipping around. I tried to find anyone - one of my brothers, one of my parents... Sam had been right next to me when the blast hit? Where could he have gone?
Ping!
I was thrown out of my hazy trance as bullets rained down on the opening. The woman immediately tackled me to the ground, and from the way my knee began to scream in pain, I knew I had landed wrong. I frantically crawled behind a destroyed table that had been flipped on its side, my back pressed against the thick wood. The ringing in my ears grew louder as I watched the glass above me become peppered with bullet holes.
"STAY HERE!" The woman screamed over the noise of the chaos. I was only able to stare at her - her words just didn't make sense. But, I just stayed tucked in my little hideout as she pulled her own gun from its holster and slipped out of the protection of the table. I blinked fast, trying to catch up with what was going on.
It took me a moment, but after one bullet hit the back of the table hard, I was up and sprinting. I had no idea where I was going, and I knew that my knee was torn beyond repair, but I had to find someone, anyone.
"FINN!"
I whipped my head around, frantically trying to find the source of the voice. It was Charlie, it had to be. The way he said my name, the way his normally quiet voice was warped by fear and pain. I avoided clouds of dust and fallen walls, adrenaline pumping through my veins. I was almost able to convince myself that my knee hadn't been re-injured. My backpack bounced painfully on my back as I hobbled through the chaos.
Then, in the midst of the dusty air and static sounds, there was two little boys clinging to each other behind a couch. The eldest had the younger's head tucked into his chest, and they were crying.
My throat turned raw from screaming.
I bounded towards them as fast as I could, falling to the ground painfully when I reached them.
"Charlie, Lucas, oh god..." I cried, wrapping my arms around them. They immediately tucked themselves into my shoulders, their skinny arms tight around my waist. I slid us back into the couch, pressing my face into Lucas's curls.
"Finn, oh, it was so scary - the big sound - and..." Charlie was mumbling. I rested my hand on his shoulder and shushed him quietly, trying to cover both their ears from the sound of gunfire. Oh, when will it be over?
It took a while, but then everything silenced. It was odd, the transition between complete chaos and absolute calm. There was a moment when everything got too loud to cope with, and then everything was quiet and I was sure I had lost my hearing. Dust floated in the air in front of me like the blokeh you would see in some kids artsy totally-not-edited picture they would post on Instagram. The only thing I could hear was my heartbeat - it pumped loud in the back of my mind. Charlie and Lucas were talking, and I knew that because their mouths were moving, but I could not hear their words.
"Finn!" It took Lucas a moment of tugging, but then my eyes were latching onto his and they were pulling me up. I protested for a terrifying moment, thinking that they were going to stand up right into gunfire, but then I remembered that it had ceased for the moment. Drowsily, I spotted another paramedic running our way.
"Hey you three, are you guys okay?" This one was a man in his late thirties by the looks of it, but blood dripped off a large slice on his cheekbone. I hauled my butt off the ground and, with the help of Charlie and Lucas, stood to face the man. I was still about 90% sure that my brain wasn't functioning properly, but I was somehow able to form comprehensible words.
"What the hell just happened?" I asked weakly, spitting dusty spit out of my mouth. The paramedic glanced over us, then lead us with his gun out towards a large group of people. I stumbled, my knee giving out. Charlie grabbed my arm and attempted to hold me up. My eyes burned from the debris in the air.
"I'll explain everything when we get to back to the main gate wing - I know all three of you are in shock but everything will be okay," The man said, taking my older arm and helping me towards the large group of people. I frantically tried to keep hold of Lucas and Charlie, but I had to put more effort into keeping myself walking. My knee kept popping out of the socket, and I wasn't sure if it was either the numbness that was spreading through me or the rush of adrenaline that had kicked off the pain.
The man lead us towards the group, and then there were more paramedics surging to us. Charlie's hand was clenched around my own, but as much as I tried, I couldn't keep a hold of him as I was pushed towards a bench. Blurry faces flitted across my vision, but I couldn't identify them.
"Hurry! She's going into shock!" There were voices, but I could only hear bits and pieces of what they were saying. I blinked fast, trying to stay conscience.
"My brothers... Where are they?" I slurred, my head starting to pound. I tried to push back the doctor inspecting my knee and stand, but more paramedics and officers held my arms down.
"Miss! You have to stay still!" one shouted in my ear. I shook my head, shutting my eyes against the pain. Where are my brothers? Where are my parents? Despair overtook me and then I felt warm tears dripping down my cheeks. Reality hit me like a ton of bricks and crushed me underneath it.
"FINN!"
There was a distant voice calling my name, barely audible over the ringing in my ears. But it was there nonetheless. I looked up in a haze, trying to find that voice in the midst of my clouded mind. I shuddered as it called my name again, and then I was looking into the same shamrock colored eyes that I had always known. Floppy brown hair was close to my face, and then I was getting crushed in what seemed to be a hug. My mind started to clear.
"Sam?" I wheezed, my arms pushing him back to see his face clearly.
"Thank god you're okay," Sam breathed. I felt the bricks lift off of my heart, and then I going into a fit of hysterics. My sides hurt from laughing, and more tears leaked out of my eyes.
"Oh god... Oh god Sam... You're - you're alive.. Oh goodness." I rested my forehead on Sam's shoulder, trying to calm down. I probably sounded drunk.
"Hey, calm down princess. We're all here," Sam said soothingly, wrapping a strong arm around my shoulders. I leaned into his touch, savoring the moment because, right now, I was the little sibling.
"Sam?" another voice called. I opened one eye to see my parents, hand in hand with Lucas and Charlie, walking towards us. They were all covered in dust, and my father had a small cut across his cheek, but they were otherwise unharmed. I sat up, attempting to reach for them.
"Miss! Please stay still!" The doctor glared at me as he wrapped my knee in a thick white bandage. I returned the glare.
"Oh thank goodness you guys are okay," my dad said, kissing my forehead. I closed my eyes, holding tight to his hand. My mother was hugging Sam, as were Charlie and Lucas.
"Sweetheart, what did you do to your knee?" my mother said, concern woven into her accent. I glanced down at my knee, which was finally secure in a thick bandage. I grunted when I attempted to put weight on it, but it wasn't as bad as before. I briskly thanked the doctor, but he just nodded then sprinted off, headings towards more people. I felt a small rock scraping itself down my throat when I saw the bodies. There were dozens, already wrapped in black plastic bags. I felt my brothers arm wrap around my waist.
"Finn, don't look," He whispered into my hair. I pressed my face into his shoulder, trying to snuff out the images of those bodies. My parents could've been in those - my siblings could've been in those. Sam's hand was strong against my shoulder.
My parents took the executive and immediately started to demand information on what the hell just happened. I stood shivering with my siblings, Lucas's hand tight in my own. Charlie was clinging to Sam. I watched as my mother's hands flew violently through the air as she spoke with one of the military generals that had shone up. I had to blink quickly to see her through the thick dust that still surrounded the airport.
I took the time to figure out what had happened. One second, I had been sulking to my older brother. The next, I had been thrown against a window. As I looked around the airport, I saw pieces of fallen concrete - the ceiling had collapsed in. The remains of a Wetzel's Pretzels were scattered around, and with a jolt I realized that it was a hand, not a pretzel, that was crushed under the large metal sign that had once hung above the small shop. My food from earlier started to turn in my stomach.
"What do you mean, we can't leave?" my father's low, stern voice cut through my thoughts. I turned my head to see three soldiers talking with my parents, as well as a few other adults who had come to see what the commotion was about. I thought I heard sirens in the distance. The was a lot of yellow caution tape being rolled out.
"Somehow they've - those things - targeted every airport in California. LA is the the third to be hit. They took out the entire 2nd and 3rd terminal at Burbank, and the Santa Barbara Airport is just a pile a rubble," one soldier said quickly. Sam's grip on my shoulders tightened.
"How are they doing this?" my mother asked quietly. I almost didn't hear her.
"You've heard of the virus I assume, right?" the soldier asked. My parents nodded, as did some of the others. The soldier paused for a moment to talk into his walkie talkie, but then resumed. "Well, the virus is passed by bodily fluid contact. Mainly blood, but saliva as well as tears can pass the virus if they get in another person's body. There was a shooting at the military base of at Point Conception 3 months ago...Three "phasers" - if that's we're callin'em now - got in, blew themselves apart with bombing vests. The soldiers there - they didn't know how the virus was passed," he looked away, his eyes filled with some emotion that I assumed was sorrow.
"They were all infected?" my father asked. The soldier nodded.
"7 Navy General's, 15 Air force, and 46 foot soldiers that were supposed to fly to Afghanistan in three weeks - instead, they unknowingly passed the virus through the entire base. It's been spread all over the place, and they were too far gone by the time California enforced the tests. This," the man pointed to the wreckage, " was done by just three of them. We don't even know how many more." He finished his spiel with a gloomy look cast our way. The group, along with my parents, stood silently. I glanced away, trying to process what I had overheard.
"We had flights to Amsterdam in 20 minutes - will the planes still be up and running?" my father asked. The soldier glanced at a small screen in his hand, then bit his lip.
"This wasn't the only wing that was hit. All of the airplanes were gunned down - the phasers got a hold of the rocket launchers at the base. The luggage was also hit. I'm afraid I can't promise if your stuff survived. We're sorry, but there's no way to get out of here by air." He spoke into his radio again. My nostrils flared, feeling a guitar shaped hole cut itself into my heart.
"Is there any way out at all?" my mother asked, her face hardened. I felt a suffocating hand wrap around my lungs.
"If you wanna brave the streets, then yeah. But otherwise, I'm afraid this is where you'll be staying for a while."