In the End

Recap:

All of a sudden we heard what sounded like a small explosion and the plane picked up speed tremendously. An illuminating orange light shone through all the windows' open curtains on the right side. I could tell it was coming brightest from right behind me because of how dark the shadow I've suddenly cast on the floor was.

I slowly began to turn towards the source.

When I finally saw it, my skin lost all color.

Chapter 6

While I was turning towards the window, I noticed the expressions of fear on everybody's face getting drastically amplified, those who were worried were now terrified, while those who were terrified became frozen stiff.

My eyes landed upon the right wing that was now fiercely ablaze, the farthest area from the body that holds the engine fan was covered in a smokescreen, while a bright mix of yellow and orange flames began to engulf its center. Throughout the flat surface of the wing, pieces were flying off and catching on fire as if someone was peeling it slowly, the parts that weren't peeling off were already on fire. As we were falling down a shield of flame was developing around the edges of the structure, getting brighter and hotter as we descended. Any hope we had of not crashing was evidently enough, crushed to pieces.

It took a few silent seconds for the new condition of the plane to set in, and once it did, people started crying and screaming for help. The crew were doing their best to calm us down, but we knew that they saw an incoming end just as well as we did.

Other parts of the plane's exterior were starting to catch on fire as well, we could feel the entire structure shaking as we picked up more and more speed on our way to obliteration.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!..."

The pilot's intercom came on, and for the first time, he was silent long enough for us to hear what was going on in the cockpit.

"All crew onboard report to the staff room immediately," he said after taking a deep sigh.

Tess and another flight attendant were already there.

The remaining five started heading there with the same looks of confusion that we had. As they walked into the room, the middle aged man confronted them angrily.

"What the hell is going on? The plane's on fire and you guys are going for a coffee break" he exasperated.

"We'll be back in a few minutes sir" replied one of them as they hurried in.

A few seconds passed and he started knocking on the door and demanding that they come out and give him a parachute.When he tried to open it and found out that it was locked, his knocks evolved to him slamming the door repeatedly with a full palm, the racket he was causing made us all more anxious. But even though his methods were wrong, his suspicion was in the right place, why would they need to lock the door for a regular staff meeting?

Minutes passed as we waited for an answer from them.

Suddenly the emergency door that Seth jumped out of was made accessible, I looked around and it seemed none of us were responsible for it.

"You have less than five minutes before… before it's too late to jump" the pilot's breaking voice came out of the intercom.

"Jump?! With what??", I yelled.

"What?? so we either fall to our death or crash and die?!" another passenger exclaimed from the back of the plane.

Moments later we noticed something moving out of the windows near the head of the plane. It looked like bodies being flung towards the shore of the Island.

"It's the goddamn pilot!" yelled the middle-aged man as he stared out of the window by his seat.

"That asshole jumped, they're all jumping"

As he had exclaimed, one by one they jumped.

Worst of all, we had to watch them jump, and every single one of them had a parachute on their back.

Joined by a couple of other passengers now, the middle aged man started slamming the staff room door with his full body, while yelling and cursing at them as if someone would open the door for him. But I counted at least seven people, which meant he was howling at a deserted room.

The old lady went back to her daughter and grandson, and held them close to her chest as they cried. Other passengers who had family on board began to do the same, because that was all they could do now.

I had no idea what to do anymore, it didn't seem that any vacant parachutes were available, and the people with parachutes obviously wouldn't give them up. It wouldn't even be fair to ask that of them. I felt like my options were limited to either attacking someone with a parachute and jumping off, or sitting idle until impact.

Neither choice was attractive.

How was I supposed to save myself and everybody else if I were to be a sitting duck.

I kept looking around for something that could help, anything, but all I saw were people at their worst.

The couple from near Lydia's body started creeping towards the exit, slowly making their way through until I made eye contact with the girl, then they both got up, ran out, and jumped as fast as they could, starting a chain reaction they didn't realize they were capable of. About seven other people with parachutes came running towards the exit from both sides of the plane, and one after another they started to jump into the wild.

The middle aged man and the two with him started running towards them while yelling for them to stop.

"Hey!!! Hey!!! We just want to talk, stop!! Hey!"

"Goddamnit!" one of them blurted out as they all peered through the opening.

On the other side, the staff room door suddenly opened, and Tess came rushing out with an object wrapped in a blanket held close to her chest. She ran immediately to the old lady and her family.

"Here, take this," her arms extended with the wrapped blanket.

"It's the last parachute, please just take it quickly and go" she spoke in a hushed tone as she unveiled the backpack to them.

Unfortunately, the middle aged man was standing in front of the exit, right behind their seats, and he heard what was said.

"What the hell is this?!" He yelled as he shoved Tess into the seat next to her.

"Where the hell is my parachute, huh?!"

The parachute fell to the ground in the aisle between the seats.

Both the old lady and the middle aged man reached for it and grabbed it at the same time. As her daughter yelled at him, a struggle began near the opening, while Tess simultaneously tried to get back on her heels.

"Let go of it you old hag!"

"Leave my family alone, you animal!"

Attention was drawn to the situation as insults were exchanged during the contest for the last parachute.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

A few feet away from me was a parachute that I could steal, an opportunity to save myself, at the same time there was the opportunity to be a hero, to commit the selfless act of saving this grandmother and her family.

It wasn't until this moment that I realized that I couldn't do both. I had to either save myself or save others.

I quickly got out of my row, with only my backpack in hand, and started running towards the commotion with my mind made up.

I had decided that I was going to…

YOU... DECIDE

VOLUME: ALPHA TIMELINE

IF YOU READ THE VOLUME TITLED ALPHA TIMELINE THEN YOU CHOSE TO TAKE THE PARACHUTE FOR YOURSELF

VOLUME: BETA TIMELINE

IF YOU READ THE VOLUME TITLED BETA TIMELINE THEN YOU CHOSE TO SAVE THE OLD LADY

CHOOSE WISELY, THEIR FATES LIE IN THE MERCY OF YOUR HANDS!