First Activation

“We can’t stay here any longer,” I said. “If the flare last night attracted quite a few killers, then imagine what the tower of smoke from the terminal will do. We know there are a few hundred people from the plane wandering around the New York area; I say we make our way into the city. That way, we’ll be close to supplies and have a few places to hide if the killers come after us.”

“Killers? Is that what they are called?” The old man from Long Island asked.

“I don’t think they have a specific name, but I can’t think of a better description. Can you? Besides, ‘they’, are just people who happened to be on the ground when it all went wrong.”

The four remaining passengers talked quietly between themselves for a moment.

“We don’t want to go into the city,” the younger man said. “We’re going to take our parents home.”

The old couple probably didn’t want to be ducking around the streets and scavenging for supplies. They probably just wanted to get back to a familiar environment. Who could blame them?

“Can you drive?” I asked, thinking about the abandoned cars on the road to the terminal.

“I’ll drive them to Long Island,” the captain said. “I need to get home and find my family, too.”

As much as I feared for their safety, I was relieved that we didn’t have to bring them all along with us, smaller groups would be much more mobile and easier to manage. I had actually been hoping that Bernie would drive them to Long Island. We hadn’t had a proper conversation since Linda died, and I could feel that things were awkward between us.

Jack was also keen to get things moving. “Let’s get out of here now. The longer we hang around discussing our options, the more likely it is that a killer will turn up.”

“So, it’s just the three of us then?” Bernie asked.

“We’ll be alright, Bernie. Zero tolerance, remember?” Jack nodded.

The eight of us jumped down the slide and made our way to the gap in the fence. I could feel the heat from the terminal building, as we got closer.

A shot rang out and the captain was propelled backwards, I dived for cover and pushed the other passengers down. Jack nudged me and pointed to a silver car on the other side of the fence. Behind it was a bearded man in a lumberjack shirt, holding what appeared to be a bolt-action rifle. He started to reload.

I looked across at the captain who was breathing heavily.

“Where have you been hit?” I asked.

“I don’t think I am. The shot just knocked off my epaulette and the force threw me back.”

“Pretend you’re dead.”

“What?”

“Pretend you’re dead, now,” I said.

He closed his eyes and let his head loll sideways.

I didn’t want this killer taking any more pot shots at us with his rifle. I moved over to the captain slowly, and pretended to take his pulse, expecting a shot to be fired at any moment.

“Stay down. I am going to try something,” I whispered to the group.

I sprang up, ran over to the fence and shouted, “You’ve fucking killed him. You’ve killed him. What are you doing?”

The man behind the car watched my antics for a few seconds before placing the rifle muzzle in his mouth. He strained to reach the trigger with his fingertips, then gagged as he forced the barrel further down his throat. There was no hesitation once he could reach the trigger, and he fired down his throat, wobbled for two seconds with his arms outstretched, and then crumpled to the ground.

I grabbed the fence to keep myself steady.

“Right, everyone, let’s go,” Jack stood and waved the group along.

We all crawled through the hole in the fence and made for the cars on the road.

“How did you know he was going to do that?” Bernie asked, as he came alongside me.

“I thought it might work, but I didn’t know. They seem to need confirmation that their victim is dead before they can kill themselves. I tried to give him that. Anyway, if we didn’t do something, he could have taken us all out from that range. Our pistols would have been useless.”

Jack went over to our assailant and took the rifle and a pouch of ammunition. He opened the car door next to the body, climbed in, and started the engine.

“This one’s a runner,” Jack said as he jumped out of the car.

“You five take it,” Bernie said to the captain and family.

They didn’t need to be convinced, and quickly got into the car and shut the doors. The captain rolled the driver side window down, as I approached.

“Good luck. Hopefully, we’ll meet again,” he said.

I couldn’t let them leave without some form of defence, and held the Sig out to him by the barrel.

“Take this. You might need it.”

“Thanks,” the captain nodded.

I gave him a quick lesson on how to use the Sig through the open window, and then said my farewells. Jack and Bernie did the same.

The car moved off, weaving through the stationary traffic away from the airport. I was glad the captain had some protection but as they disappeared into the distance, I thought it might not be enough.

“That was generous of you, especially after we just acquired a rifle,” Jack said. “Well done for fooling that killer, by the way. Here, take the Glock.”