Watching the End of the World – 14
Tony leaned over to whisper to Nate. ���I don���t think we���re going to make it to Tanzania.���
���But the captain said ��� ���
���Be real. He just said that so we wouldn���t freak out. Just like he didn���t tell us about the virus to keep us from freaking out. I spent some time researching Madagascar before I left home, looking at maps and stuff. We can���t make it to Tanzania in a half hour. Why do you think we���re flying so low? He���s looking for somewhere to land.���
���But it���s nothing but trees down there.���
���Yeah. No shit.���
���Do you know where we are now?���
���As best I can tell, we should be over Mwinda.���
���Mwinda? But isn���t that the country where it���s basically anarchy?���
���Pretty much. They���ve had a civil war going on for about twenty years. The place is a serious mess. We should hope we have enough fuel to at least get over Tanzania before we have to put down.���
Tony sat back in his seat and Nate looked out the window. He could see the blue expanse of the ocean off to the right and the white strip of the beach.
���Maybe we could land on the beach,��� Nate said.
���That won���t work,��� Tony replied. ���Sand���s too soft. The wheels will dig in and the plane will flip.���
���The ocean?���
���That���s probably why we���re staying along the coast. If he doesn���t find anywhere to land he can always put down in the ocean.���
Jordynn had been listening in. ���I can���t swim,��� she said.
���You don���t have to,��� Santiago told her. ���They have life jackets on airplanes.���
���I wish I never would have gotten this role,��� Jordynn said, wrapping her arms around herself.
���Would you rather be back in LA?��� Santiago replied. ���Where people are panicking, probably rioting like idiots always do when things go wrong. If we survive the crash, this is the best place to be. There���s no way the virus will spread out here to the middle of nowhere. All we have to do is wait it out. They���re probably overreacting anyway, like they did after 9/11. It���s probably anthrax or something. You will see. We���ll spend a couple weeks in some nameless town and then they���ll open up the airports and everything will go back to normal.���
Nate listened to Santiago. The man sounded so calm and rational. He wanted to believe him. He forced himself to take a few deep breaths, knowing he was breathing too fast. He looked over and saw Omisha. The Indian woman was rigid in her seat, her grip on the armrests so fierce her knuckles were white. A tear was running down her cheek.
���Hey,��� he said. She turned toward him. ���It���s going to be all right. You���ll see.��� He didn���t really believe his own words, but the sight of her made him want to do something to help her. ���The pilot���s ex-military.��� He didn���t really know that for sure, but he���d read somewhere that most commercial pilots got their start in the military. ���They practice this kind of thing. He���ll get us down okay.���
She nodded stiffly and tried to sit back a little in her seat. It might have been his imagination, but he thought maybe she���d relaxed just a little.
The minutes ticked by and no airport or even town appeared. Nate wanted to scream. It wasn���t possible. The world was full of people. How could this part of it be so empty?
All at once the engines cut out, the familiar, reassuring background roar suddenly gone.
Excerpt from��Watching the End of the World
