Flight Plan: Deconstruction Book Three (A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller) Read online

  “Jesus Toby. I never could to tell you everything. This isn’t new.”

  “Don’t conflate this. You not being able to tell me something is entirely different from you lying to me. You lied!” he shouted.

  “Please, please just trust me,” I pleaded. “I know that’s asking a lot. But I really need you to trust me right now.”

  Toby grunted then stood up. He started pacing again then walked to the door and opened it. “I’m going to finish breakfast with Grayson. You can join us when you decide you want to tell the truth.” With that, he walked out and closed the door.

  I stayed in the room for a few minutes. His reaction was exactly what I’d been trying to avoid. How do you tell someone the world is ending, how do you make someone believe you?”

  When I was read in on the Mayflower Project, I was in disbelief. I guess I couldn’t have expected him to take it much better. But now the clock was ticking.

  I ran back to the closet and grabbed a small blue bag off the top shelf. I tossed a couple pairs of jeans and some t-shirts inside then sat on the floor and crisscrossed my legs.

  “Jesus,” I groaned.

  I couldn’t believe what was happening. I’d been planning for this day for years and now it was here and nothing like I thought it would be. I should’ve been ready, but how could anyone prepare for the ground crumbling beneath their feet.

  I stared at the closet wall in silence, letting every little noise fade away. I quieted my thoughts, until all I could hear was the drum of my heartbeat. I rocked back and forth to the cadence in a trance, letting my mind relax, focusing only on what mattered now.

  What would I need? What was the worst-case scenario and could I make peace with that? Everything in life had always been about moving forward. I knew if I could deal the worst possible scenario, I could deal with anything. Now, I had to find a way to deal with the end of the world.

  I left the closet behind and made my way back to the kitchen. Toby cut his eyes as I walked in, but I deserved it. He had a right to his anger, and I wasn’t going to belittle that.

  “Grayson,” I called. “Can you go to your room and get your camping bag?”

  “We’re going camping?” he asked as his voice reached a new octave.

  “Something like that. Make sure you pack a jacket.”

  He jumped up and took off around the corner. I waited until he was out of earshot then I turned to Toby. I took a step closer to him and grabbed his hand.

  “Look, I’m sorry I lied. I’m sorry I held this from you, but I need you to listen to me now. For the past five years the government has been working on a habitat on Mars.”

  Toby started to laugh before I could finish. “I’m not in the mood MJ.”

  “Damn it! Just listen to me.” I grabbed him by the shoulders and stared into his face. My hands were shaking and I felt my eyes watering with anger. I took a deep breath and strained to control myself.

  “MJ?” Toby said in a faint voice.

  “Listen Toby, in less than two hours we are leaving. A helicopter is gonna come and pick us up. Beyond that, you don’t need to believe me, you’ll see it all soon enough. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you everything, but this is happening.”

  There was a change is his face and I could feel his body relax a bit. He slumped his shoulders and frowned.

  “What do you want me to do MJ? I’m supposed to just believe this…do you hear how insane all this sounds?”

  “If you don’t believe me Toby, then what the hell am I doing? If I’m not telling the truth then what’s the alternative? I’m crazy? I made this all up to cover for what?”

  He didn’t respond. Leaning back against the counter, he rubbed his face and groaned. “MJ…”

  “I’m ready!” Grayson yelled as he came flying around the corner. He was wearing a fishing hat and had his camping bag slung over his shoulders. “Where we headed?”

  “Your mom was playing Grayson. We’re not going anywhere,” Toby replied.

  But before I could correct him the thunderous roar of an inbound helicopter cut through the air. The walls rattled and pictures threatened to fall to the ground. Grayson clutched his ears and stared towards us with wide eyes.

  I looked at Toby and shrugged my shoulders. “I guess they’re early.”

  CHAPTER 14

  RUN AND DON’T LOOK BACK

  The Blackhawk nearly touched down in our front yard. It idled in the middle of the cul-de-sac as we rushed from our house to meet it. Our neighbors peeked from their front doors, but there would be no savior for them. We were leaving, leaving the neighborhood and all of them behind.

  I helped Grayson into the helicopter then climbed in behind him. He smiled from ear to ear without a clue of what was going on. I envied that, his ability to be care free and live in the moment. To him this was the most exciting day of his life. He had no clue how right he was.

  Toby grabbed my hand and pulled me next to him. He gave me a blank stare then wrapped his other arm around Grayson.

  The pilot looked back as the door slammed shut. With a whirling growl, the rotor powered up and we started to rise into the air. Grayson inched forward in his seat and beamed out of the window.

  “Exciting huh?” I yelled to him.

  He motioned that he couldn’t hear me and I pointed to the headset hanging to his side. With a gaping mouth, he reached out and grabbed the headphones and pulled them over his head.

  “This is pretty bad ass mom,” he jolted.

  I winked and blew him a kiss. Grinning, he turned back to the window and pressed his face to the glass. The helicopter rolled to the right and he let out a hoot then kicked his foot.

  I smiled and leaned my head back. It was good to see him happy, even if it was fleeting. Every moment from that point on would be etched in my memory like a tattoo. Every sound, every smell would be just as much me as my skin or hair. I knew that day would be unlike any other, that was the day that everything changed.

  “Thirty minutes,” the pilot called out.

  I laid my head on Toby’s shoulder and let the minutes tick by. I felt exhausted and my body ached like I’d been in an MMA match. The helicopter rattled back and forth like a lullaby and eventually, I fell asleep.

  It wasn’t a deep sleep or even a good one. I was restless and my mind was busy with “what if’s.” But sleep was sleep and even a few minutes felt like hours to the mind.

  “MJ!” Toby’s voice called like he was screaming to me from across an auditorium full of people.

  “MJ!” he yelled again and added a little nudge.

  I slowly lifted my head and yawned. We were still airborne, but much closer to the ground. Grayson was sleeping peacefully with his head slumped against the wall, but Toby was wide awake. He gazed out of the window with a wide mouth, before glancing back at me and frowning.

  “Where are we?” I asked the pilot.

  “Right outside of Baltimore. We’ll be landing shortly.”

  “Baltimore?”

  “Surface forces logistics is there…Coast Guard. The runway is still operational.”

  “MJ,” Toby whispered.

  I grabbed his hand and held it tightly. “I know.”

  Below us the city was burning. Plumes of acrid, black smoke rose into the air like skyscrapers. I could see the fire and fear reflected in Toby’s eyes. The thin vail of disbelief wiped away and was replaced with trepidation. He wanted me to wrong, he needed me to be wrong. I’d spent the last years of my life wishing the same thing.

  Below us, it looked like the ground had been chewed and spit out, the city was in complete disarray. Flashing red and blue zipped up and down the fractured streets, like chasing Christmas lights. Cars were wrecked into buildings or just abandoned in the road and people were running in panic as the flames consumed more and more of the city.

  “You sure it’s safe down there?” I asked.

  “We won’t be on the ground for long,” the pilot replied
. “The base is just up ahead.”

  I looked back out of the window as we flew over the long road that led to the base. Troops were stationed near the entrance, waving their rifles and forcing the oncoming traffic to turn around. Some people were out of their cars, waving their hands erratically as the soldiers shoved them away.

  “What’s that about? Down there.”

  “Like I said, it’s the only airport still working. We’ve had a steady stream of local government folk, reservist…anybody who’s anybody trying to get in. Hang on, I’m bringing her down.”

  I sat back as the chopper started to descend. With my lips pursed, I took a few short breaths and steadied my hands. My heart was raging and the feeling in my gut had nothing to do with being on a helicopter.

  Grayson opened his eyes just as we touched down. He yawned and shot me a devious grin before unbuckling himself.

  “So, what now?” he asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  The door slid open and a man poked his head inside. He was covered from head to toe in the tapestries of war. The sand-colored disguise was emblazoned with a flag of hope, but also donned the tools of destruction. Fiery, strands of hair jutted out from beneath his Kevlar helmet and the freckles on his face moved as he tensed his jaw.

  He had a seriousness to his eyes, a gaze that made me wonder how much he’d already seen and how much he’d begun to regret. The burden of life and death was a heavy one, once you’d tipped the scales you could never erase the imprint it left.

  “I’m Major Torok, Craig Torok,” he said with a rough voice. “If you follow me, Secretary Garner is waiting.”

  I nodded and we started to exit the helicopter. As I stepped down onto the pavement Toby grabbed my arm and stopped me.

  “Everything, everything you said earlier was true?” he asked with a look of fear on his face that I’d never seen before.

  “Unfortunately,” I replied grimly.

  “I…I, what happens to us? I mean, what happens to Earth? Are we really leaving?”

  I put my hand on his shoulder and leaned into his ear. “I know it’s a lot,” I whispered. “But Grayson needs us. This is gonna be hard, very hard for him. He needs us to be strong.”

  “Mars? That…that sounds crazy MJ.”

  I started to laugh.

  “What?”

  “That’s exactly what I said when they told me. It took a while to accept it.”

  “Mars though MJ? I don’t even know what to say. I just…how do I accept that?”

  “Come on,” I replied and stepped outside.

  We followed the major into a beige, one-story building near the runway. It looked old and rundown, like a classroom at a school that had been forgotten. Someone had taken the time to slap a new coat of paint on it and plant a few shrubs, but the wear and tear shined through.

  “MJ,” Secretary Garner elated as we walked through the door.

  “Secretary,” I replied. “This is my husband Toby and my son Grayson.”

  He shook their hands then turned back to me. “I hope the flight wasn’t too bad.”

  “No, but we saw the line at the gate.”

  “Yes that. It’s been getting worse by the hour. We’ll be leaving here soon anyway. This installation won’t last much longer and we’re on the clock.”

  “On the clock?”

  “Yes, they’ve already started flight preparations for Mayflower. We don’t have much time.”

  “I…I didn’t think it would leave so quickly.”

  Garner smiled and tilted his head. “There’s some food in the back and some drinks. Grab yourself something before we head out.”

  I thanked him and we walked to the back of the building. Through a set of double doors there was a small multi-purpose room. Tables had been arranged in the center with a few sandwich trays and some bottled waters. Grayson brushed by me as he sprinted to the back and grabbed the first sandwich he could reach.

  “I’ll be right back,” I told Toby as I turned and headed back to the main room.

  He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but stopped. I glanced back then made my way toward the secretary.

  “Sir,” I called.

  “Not enough food back there?”

  “No, no sir. I um, I had a question about departure. I mean, we thought we had years left, the specifics at the new site haven’t been ironed out yet.”

  “Don’t worry MJ. Everything will be taken care of. There were contingencies put in place.”

  “Contingencies?”

  “A bit above your paygrade,” he replied with a stern look.

  “Sir, I’ve been onboard with this project since day one. I think I deserve some answers.”

  Garner cleared his throat and straightened up to his full height. His jaw flexed and relaxed as he weighed his words and the intensity he planned to say them. He started to reply, but stopped as the hiss of a bullet whizzed through the air and smashed into the wall outside.

  “What was that? Major!” Garner shouted.

  The major rushed into the room with his assault rifle in hand. Five more soldiers followed behind him and moved toward the windows. Toby hurried into the room with Grayson by his side and a look of alarm on his face.

  “Was that a gunshot?” he asked.

  “Gate’s been breached sir,” Craig said in a voice that was far too calm for the situation.

  Garner twisted his face and gaped. “What? How? We have a small army guarding it.”

  “The reservist sir. There’s a lot of them and they’re well-armed.”

  More crackling, gunfire and people shouting echoed outside. A small group of men ran passed us, pulling on body armor and fumbling with weapons as they spilled out of the door.

  “Are they done fueling the plane?” Garner asked with an urgency in his voice I’d never heard before.

  Craig shook his head from side to side. “At least thirty more minutes.”

  “Jesus, are they pumping the fuel directly from the middle east? Get the rest of the troops out front, set up a perimeter and for the love of God start boarding the fucking plane. Tell the crew they have 10 minutes to finish fueling.”

  “Sir,” Craig started.

  “Major, now!”

  “In thirty minutes, they’ll have minimum amount of fuel to get us to the site.”

  “We’ll all be dead in thirty minutes. Major do your job,” Garner finished then turned on his heels.

  Craig tightened his jaw and stared after him for a moment. I could tell he was the type that didn’t take well to suited politicians, but he was soldier through and through. Shouldering his rifle, he grunted and headed outside.

  “This way!” Garner snapped and walked to a door at the rear of the building. He pushed it open and quickly stepped outside.

  With Grayson still shoveling a sandwich into his mouth, we followed the secretary. There was a hangar a hundred yards ahead of us and I could see the enormous A380 lumbering outside of it.

  The fuel trucks were still plugged in and people were scattering about like angry ants. To our left a large group swarmed out of another building and ran toward the plane. I recognized a few of them, the NSA director and some other high-ranking government officials.

  They were as frantic as we were. Nothing had gone to plan and every minute that passed something else went wrong. Now, there was only one safe place and it was aboard that plane.

  “We should probably hurry,” Garner said as he sped up.

  I grabbed Grayson’s hand and we rushed across the tarmac. Toby was right behind me, glancing over his shoulder with crazed eyes. He was trying to be brave, but his jittering pupils and sweat-drenched shirt betrayed him.

  The gunfire was starting to intensify. It grew from intermittent snaps to the noises I only associated with the battlefield. From the sound of it, we were losing. The shooting and yelling was getting closer as the soldiers gave more and more ground. Orders of “fallback” and “take cover” were being hollered far too oft
en. The fight had spilled onto the base and it wouldn’t take long for it to make it to us.

  “The guy said we didn’t have enough gas,” Toby huffed as we stopped near the front of the plane.

  “Secretary,” Bill, the NSA director said as he extended his arm and shook Garner’s hand. “H building is clear. Is this thing ready to get in the air?”

  Garner frowned. “I doubt it, but we won’t have a choice in thirty seconds.”

  “He said there wasn’t enough gas!” Toby yelled and thrust himself into the conversation.

  “Toby,” I mumbled and grabbed his arm.

  “No! No! You assholes knew about this!” he shoved Garner then grabbed his collar and yanked him forward. “You told no one, and all of those people…you just left them to die. And now you want us to get on a plane with no gas!”

  Garner grabbed Toby’s wrists and stared him in the eyes. “Mr. Buchannan, your choices are very simple. Take your chances in the plane, or take your chances with that armed mob and whatever mother nature throws at you next. MJ explained to you the situation, this is all theatre. We can’t save everyone, don’t be so naïve. Be happy you have a seat or feel free to give it to someone else. But take your fucking hands off me, so we can leave this godforsaken place!”

  Toby narrowed his eyes and ground his teeth. He grunted then released Garner and stormed off.

  “Much better,” the secretary said with a grin. Clearing his throat, he raised his hands into the air and spoke in an echoing voice. “The plane is still fueling, but we need to board and prepare for takeoff as quickly as possible. Station heads, you know your jobs, make sure your shit is locked down. I want the operations center up and ready to process before the wheels leave the ground.”

  And just like that, people started moving with purpose. There was still an air of panic, but having a job seemed to ground people and help them focus. It was controlled chaos and that was exactly what we needed right then.

  “Mom what’s going on?” Grayson asked.

  “We’ve gotta go,” I replied. “It’s…it’s an emergency and we need to leave here. Just stay close to me and your father.”

  Toby took a deep breath and rubbed his hands together. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “This isn’t my world. I hope I didn’t mess anything up for you.”