HARRY and his brother JACK are on an airline flight, headed for a wild weekend–a ritual they have enjoyed every May since leaving the army. The trip takes a terrifying turn when they land in New York—this year's destination—to find that JFK airport is almost deserted and that the few ground crew they can spot have all been brutally slaughtered. Is it a terrorist attack? Or something even more menacing? When a security guard appears and offers to help the passengers, but promptly shoots the first person off the plane and then kills himself, Harry realises that there is something very, very wrong in New York City.
At thirty-six thousand feet high and travelling six hundred miles per hour, our Friday morning flight from Manchester to New York, was making good progress over the Atlantic Ocean. I had been looking forward to this trip for months with my brother, Jack, who was snoring in the aisle seat.
We were due into JFK at two-thirty, and I couldn’t wait to get through the airport and into New York. The cabin crew had just delivered our snack, which was some sort of fancy pizza pocket. I washed it down with a small plastic cup of lukewarm coffee, and then stretched out. We had a free seat in the middle of our row, now covered with redundant iPads, magazines, and water bottles.
I grabbed the free magazine from inside the pouch of the reclined seat in front. It had a fantastic Statue of Liberty picture on the front cover, but inside, there was nothing to pique my interest. Who buys the plastic plane, neck pillow, or branded teddy? In New York, there would be far better things for my hard-earned cash to be spent on.
Nature called, so I edged past Jack and made my way up the aisle towards the vacant bathroom. As I squeezed into the cubicle and locked the door, I decided on a childish plan, and smiled at myself in the mirror. I’d make Jack jump by increasing the volume on his iPod. After two solitary hours, I wanted conversation, and knew he would be eager to talk about the trip and which bar we would hit first.
I splashed my face with water, and then opened the door to find an irritated lady eyeing me as though I had stolen her handbag. I gave her a wry grin and received the crack of a smile in return, as we awkwardly nudged past each other.
Half way down the aisle towards our seats, I felt the plane drop and was thrown off balance into the closest headrest. A sudden jolt of violent turbulence ran through the plane, triggering a ripple of curses from my fellow passengers. The headrest belonged to a surly looking, middle-aged man with a baldhead and white moustache. I shrugged apologetically at the man who gave me a curt nod in reply.
“Sorry, mate,” I said, then walked the short distance back to our row and slid into my seat.
A Steward’s calm voice transmitted through the loudspeaker instructing passengers to return to their seats and buckle up or words to that effect.
“…the fuck was that?” Jack had been jolted awake.
“What do you think it was? I’ll give you two guesses.”
He gave me a dismissive look and continued to rearrange himself in his seat. At least now that he was awake, we could talk about the delights that awaited us upon arrival in America.
“So what are you looking forward to the most? A trip up to the top of the Empire State building? A cruise on the Bay to get a few decent photos of the Statue of Liberty? Times Square?”
“What’s in Times Square?”
“Massive electric billboards and… I’m not exactly sure… but it’s famous and we’ve both heard of it, so we’ll give it a go.”
“Central Park. That’s where I want to go. I’ve seen it in—”
Collective gasps and the general chatter of raised voices filled the cabin after a series of four more jolts hit the plane in rhythmic succession
Jack’s leg began twitching up and down; I could tell he was starting to get nervous. He wasn’t a keen flyer, and any more turbulence would only add to his stress.
“Don’t worry, it’s only natural, just relax.”
Closing his eyes, he laughed, “Relax? There’s nothing natural about flying through the air at hundreds of miles an hour in a piece of metal.”
Before I could reassure Jack any further, another safety announcement sounded through the cabin.
Time seemed to pass in super slow motion, as I sat in my seat waiting to be rocked around again. Nothing happened. The seatbelt light flicked off after ten minutes and was followed by a collective exhalation and the clicking sound of seatbelts being unfastened.
“You sure we can take these off now?” I motioned to our seatbelts with a grin. “After the double warning from the stewardess, I thought they would have made us keep them on for the rest of the trip.”
Jack smiled and nodded as we unbuckled our belts, “They do love their health and safety, don’t they?”
I turned to look through the cabin and saw the middle-aged man whose headrest I had clutched earlier, stand and approach our row.
“For fucks sake,” I mouthed to Jack.
I looked up as he got closer, hoping to brush away any confrontation before it occurred, “Sorry about grabbing your headrest, mate. If I didn’t, I might have fallen into your lap!”
“Oh, forget about it. You seemed to need it a lot more than me. My wife asked me to come and see you, she said I was a bit grumpy when you apologised.”
“It’s fine, no worries.”
“What’s a couple of young guys like you doing in New York? Business or pleasure?”
