Fate of the Fallen

Chapter 1: Altitude of Fear

Location: 42,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean
Date: October 15, 2024
Time: 10:00 AM Earth Time

Your eyes are clamped shut, one hand gripping the armrest of your seat so tightly that your knuckles ache. The other hand trembles as it clutches the airline-provided sick bag. Normally, you’re okay with flying. Sure, you don’t do it all that often maybe once or twice a year but it’s never been a problem before. Today, though? Not so much.

The plane has been jerking up, down, left, and right in every direction imaginable for the last twenty minutes, and your stomach lurches with every violent movement. Your heart races in your chest, and you have to fight to keep your breathing steady. At this point, it feels like the turbulence will never stop. And you’re starting to wonder if maybe it won’t.

Then, the PA speaker crackles to life.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. I just want to apologise for the turbulence we've been experiencing. Because we're currently flying over the Atlantic, there isn't any radar to give us weather updates. We've been talking to some other planes ahead of us, and from what they're saying, we should only have another ten or so minutes of this. If you need any assistance, please let one of the flight attendants know they would be happy to help." The speaker cuts off with a crackle.

The cabin is quiet for a handful of seconds taking in what the captain had said and what it could mean for the flight before almost as one the silence is broken by at least a dozen conversations some hushed others frantic but all asking the same thing as him.

Ten minutes. Ten more minutes of this? You try to swallow the bile rising in your throat. You just need to hold it together for ten more minutes. You can do this. You’ve got this—

Your thoughts are suddenly cut off as the plane lurches again, this time so violently it feels like the entire aircraft was launched several hundred feet into the air. It’s like some angry giant decided to flick the plane out of the sky just to mess with you.

A scream rips through the air behind you. Your head whips around instinctively, and that’s when you see a flight attendant, probably only in his mid-twenties by the looks of it, who had been comforting a terrified woman and her sobbing child, suddenly lifted off his feet and flung into the air. You see as he desperately tries to grab a hold of something but it is far too late you watch as his body slams into the cabin roof with a sickening crack, his head hitting the white plastic and shattering it before gravity brings his limp body collapsing to the floor in the narrow aisle between his shocked fellow passengers.
“Holy shit!” you breathe out.

Your breath catches in your throat like a lump of cold iron. The screams around you grow louder, a cacophony of fear and panic filling the cabin. Your stomach churns again, but this time it’s not just the turbulence. “Fuck…” you mumble under your breath, trying to steady yourself this has got to be the scariest most messed up thing you have experienced in your twenty-four tears. Leaning over, you fight the wave of nausea that threatens to overwhelm you.

You want to look away, but you can’t. The flight attendant isn’t moving. “Hey, buddy… you okay?” you call out, your voice wobbly and barely audible over the chaos erupting throughout the aircraft.
All you get in response to your question is a low, pain-filled groan.

You need to move. Now. Quickly, you fumble with your seatbelt, your hands still shaking as you unbuckle it. Your grip on the armrest is so tight that it feels like it’s the only thing tethering you to the earth, but you force yourself to let go. With unsteady legs, you stand. The plane sways beneath you, and the sick bag slips from your hand, tumbling onto the seat as you mash the call button twice hoping more experienced help would arrive before you had to do something.

You know you’re not trained for this. You’re just a guy on a plane. What are you even doing? But you have to help. You have to try.

By the time you reach the downed flight attendant, another passenger, a balding man in his late forties has already knelt beside him. The man’s green sweater is spotted with blood as he presses a fistful of napkins against the flight attendant’s head, trying to stop the bleeding.

You kneel down beside them, your heart hammering in your chest.
“Hey, mate, is he doing okay?” you ask, raising your voice over the sound of the panicked cabin.
The man looks up at you, fear etched into every line of his face. “I think so,” he stammers, “but I don’t think he’s conscious. He’s got a bad gash on his head…”

Shit. That’s not what you wanted to hear. You’re not sure what you were expecting, but the dread sinks deeper into your gut.

“Do you know his name?” you ask, hoping for anything that might make this situation feel less out of control.

Before the man can answer, the plane jolts again, and you’re thrown off balance. You grab onto the nearby seats to steady yourself, your fingers gripping the fabric so hard your knuckles turn white. The whole cabin feels like it’s tilting sideways, the chaos pressing in on you.

Why the hell did you stand up? What do you even think you can do? You’ve never dealt with something like this before. You're not a hero. Yet here you are, in the middle of the madness, trying to help someone who might be dying right in front of you.

You swallow hard, bracing yourself. There’s no backing out now.
The shaking once again only lasts a few seconds but when it does end you manage to get a more steady footing. Looking up you see that the attendant is in about the same place as he was before but the other passenger is gone. Looking around you find that he has apparently abandoned you and scurried back to his seat.

“What do you think you're doing!” you exclaimed.

The look on his face is one of fear and shame. “I can't help, I'm sorry but I just don't want to get hurt” he shrinks back in his chair as he notices your expression of pure contempt for his cowardice.
“Alright if you won't help then I’ll just do this on my own!” You exclaimed.

You stupid selfish cowardly bastard if you don't help him then I will. You rage in your head trying to keep your anger from making you do something stupid.

You’re about to lean over and help when a faint glow catches your attention. It's coming from over your right shoulder. Twisting your head, you squint past the other passengers, their eyes wide with confusion and fear. The light green and unnatural grows brighter. You blink, your breath catching in your throat.

Before you can react, the eerie glow flares, pulsing in time with your racing heartbeat. It intensifies, not just in brightness but in heat, searing against your skin. Your mouth opens to shout something, anything but no sound escapes.

In a blinding flash, the world around you vanishes.

Everything goes dark.