Free Taker by Patrick Wong Page B

stumbled, attempting to take another step closer to the wall to steady herself. But her legs were shaking with fear, like that time in the forest, and the pain returned to her wounded thigh. It was immense, searing, overwhelming.
    Suddenly, she collapsed, and everything went black.
    “Nicole?”
    Nicole roused and rubbed her tear-filled eyes. Her bright surroundings brought relief. She was back on the plane again. It was Jason, nudging her shoulder.
    “Wow, that was creepy. I liked the little French girl better.”
    “French girl? Are you all right?”
    A little shaken, Nicole paused for a moment to allow the confusion to subside, and to get acclimated to her real surroundings — the familiar gray and red stripes, the passengers.
    “I’m OK. I think I was having a bad dream or something.”
    Ding.
    “This is your captain speaking. It has truly been an honor and a privilege to be your pilot. And please don’t take this the wrong way, but I hope we never have to do this together again. As you may have noticed, we have landed safely, and as soon as we can get some stairs up to the plane, I’ll release the cabin doors and we can all get off. Welcome to Patrick Air Force Base!”
    They had survived. The applause was thunderous, and Nicole lifted her hands to join in the elation.
    Jason, applauding as well, smiled at Nicole. The warm glow of his face was back. Once more they locked glances, united for a moment with their hands and their eyes. They started to kiss, but the moment didn’t last long, as a hand soon zoomed into view. It was followed by Amy’s grinning face.
    A little embarrassed, Jason excused himself. Nicole half-heartedly tried to include him, but he encouraged her to enjoy the moment with her friends.
    “Go team Balancer!” Amy yelled.
    Together, Nicole, Amy, Drake and, with prompting, Ben (who had run up from Jason’s old seat) shared triumphant high-fives. They had made it, against all the odds.
    As they waited for the cabin doors to open, Nicole leaned forward and nudged the boy in the seat in front of her. He turned around.
    “Hey!”
    “Hey, yourself,” Nicole tried, with a perky tone she had seen work with Amy’s little brother, Troy.
    “I’ll swap you that magazine for a bag of candy.”
    The boy seemed to consider this. His mom had other ideas.
    She lifted the magazine from her son’s hands.
    “Given what you just did, you and your friends can have anything you want. You’re all brave.” The boy’s mom handed the Adventure World magazine to Nicole, and she kept eye contact for a few moments before releasing it. Her kindness — and perhaps even admiration — was a welcome relief after the dungeon girl’s admonishing.
    “Think I went to Adventure World a few years back,” Jason said, interrupting Nicole’s wandering thoughts. “It’s a pretty fun place. Maybe we could go sometime?”
    The lights of the cabin flickered, and Nicole heard the sound of the cabin door opening. But instead of the bustling of passengers rushing toward the front of the plane, a sudden, solemn silence fell over everyone. The people around Nicole stood in unison, and a few passengers bowed their heads while a girl a few rows up ahead appeared to be saying a prayer.
    Several Air Force officers and medical personnel had boarded the plane and were respectfully tending to the bodies of the pilot and second officer.
    Why did some have to die in order for others to live?
    Although the front and rear doors of the aircraft had now been opened, not a single person moved toward the exits until the soldiers had removed the fallen from the front of the cabin. After the soldiers had loaded the bodies into the waiting medical vans and the doors to the vans were closed, everyone seemed to exhale collectively.
    Slowly, the volume of life turned up, as people resumed the process of gathering their things and preparing to deplane.
    Nicole’s mind was full — overwhelmed with the hijacking events and with what had felt