Departure

“Right here.” A middle-aged man wearing a New York Giants sweatshirt steps forward, holding it out.

“Thank you.” Nick takes it with a nod. “Okay, everyone run into the woods and bring back as much wood as you can carry. Thirty seconds. Don’t bother with anything that isn’t already on the ground. Go. Hurry.”

He turns to me. “Gather some small branches and twigs and break them up.”

We follow the others into the woods, returning with armfuls of kindling. Setting his down, Nick hunches over the pile. A few seconds later, the first tentative flame is flickering. I add my take to it, and as the rest return from the woods with their own twigs and branches, it grows quickly into a small bonfire. God, the heat feels good. And that’s not all. Rescue teams have got to be looking for us by now, and the fire can only speed up their search.

“All right. Good work,” Nick says, standing up from the fire to focus on the group huddled around the flames. “Here’s the plan. We’ve got enough people to make two lines. We’re going to stretch out, spacing ourselves at about arm’s length all the way to the plane. When the plane gets to just above water level, we’ll wade in quickly, swim to our positions, and start passing the survivors down the lines to the bank. Speed is the key. The people who come off will have life vests on, so those of you in the deeper water should be able to push them to the next person in line. Everybody in the water above their waist gets a life vest, so you don’t have to tread water. This is important: don’t stay in the water longer than you can stand it. If you get too cold, if you feel your limbs going numb, tap out and come to the fire. Warm up, and if you’re able, get back as soon as you can. Once the people coming out get dry and warm, they can go back and join the line. Okay?

“One last thing. If you’re a strong swimmer—if you’ve ever been a lifeguard, or you swim regularly, or even if you’re just in really good shape and can hold your breath for a while—come see me right now.”

Three people step forward, all younger guys, twenties and early thirties.

Nick turns to me. “How about you?”

“Yeah.” I nod, my mouth dry. “I’m good. I’m a good swimmer.” Might be a stretch. I was on a team before going to uni, but that was over a decade ago.

He leads the four of us away from the group and speaks quietly. “We’ll go out first. Don’t put on a life vest, it will slow you down. There are two aisles. We’ll split up, two and three.” He points to the youngest guy and me. “You’re with me. The back of the plane near the tail is probably already filled with water—I doubt it’s completely sealed. When we get there, if that’s true, the water line becomes our starting point. We can’t save anyone below it; they’ve already drowned. We’ll race down the aisle and start checking the people in the first dry row for a pulse.”

He puts his hand to his throat. “Press hard and wait. No pulse, move on. Get a pulse, slap them hard with the other hand, try to wake them. No response, unbuckle them, put them over your shoulder, and carry them to the next person in line—we’ll try to get the folks still on the plane to help. Check children first—for the obvious reason, and because they’ll be lighter, and it’s more likely the life vest will keep their heads above water. If you go five rows without seeing a kid, go back and check the adults.” He gives each of us our assignments, splitting the seats roughly evenly.

People are coming back with blankets now, dropping their loot near the fire and warming themselves. Nick makes a beeline for Jillian and the doctor, waving the two CPR volunteers over.

“These folks know CPR,” he tells Sabrina. “They’re going to help you with the people we bring out of the plane.” He turns to Jillian. “You know CPR?”

“I’ve … had training but never, you know …”

“First time for everything. You’ll do fine.”

“I don’t like this.” Sabrina frowns as she looks at the bloodied survivors from our section. “The exertion—any of these people could have severe head trauma.”

“No choice. This is what we’re doing.” Nick’s voice is firm, but not condescending or harsh.

I like that about him.

Nick runs to the water’s edge again and yells for Bill. He has to call again before the paunchy man finally appears, looking haggard and nervous. The bottom edge of the plane hovers just three feet above the water now, and the sight of how close the water is rattles him further. He peers out at us, frightened.

“There are too many. We can’t get them all.”

“It’s okay. We’re going to help you, Bill. We need you to get the life vests from under the seats and put them on the people you’ve moved to the opening. Understand?”

Bill looks around. “Then what?”

“Then we’re going to lower them out of the plane to the rescue teams. It’s imperative that you and anyone who can help with that stay there. Do you understand?”

Bill nods.

“We’re going to make a line to you. We’re coming out soon, okay? Get ready.”

Nick turns his attention to the group on the bank. He organizes the lines, placing the very strongest at the front, closest to the plane, the weakest in the middle, and the next strongest closest to shore. I can follow his logic, but I couldn’t have come up with it, not here in the cold, under the gun, knowing we’re about to watch dozens of people die.

He puts life vests on everyone in the line, in case they have to switch places—a good change to the original plan.

The mood’s starting to change. People are pitching in. The fire is having its effect, both physically and psychologically. The non-swimmers are stockpiling firewood, moving in and out of the woods quickly. One of them, a gargantuan guy in his twenties wearing a worn peacoat, reaches for a life vest. “I can join the line if I stay close to the bank.”

Two more people step forward, echoing his words as they pull yellow life vests around their necks.

Despite the bustle, I feel my nerves winding tighter. The guys near me, the other strong swimmers, introduce themselves. My hand is clammy as I shake theirs. I can barely take my eyes off the sinking plane as we count down the seconds. I’m a strong swimmer, I tell myself. I have to be, tonight. But I can’t help wondering how quickly the plane will sink when the water breaches the lower opening. And what will happen to the bodies and debris when the plane fills. Will I be strong enough to fight my way out and up to the surface? I bet that water is cold enough to numb my limbs. If the plane fills and I’m still inside, I won’t stand a chance. But I can’t think about that, for one simple reason: I have to help those people. I can’t face the idea of not helping them.

Nick’s eyes meet mine. “Go time.”

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_a8ac5674-0daa-5803-991b-be40bf6ade6a)

Harper (#ulink_a8ac5674-0daa-5803-991b-be40bf6ade6a)

FOR WHAT FEELS LIKE AN ETERNITY, EVERYTHING IS silent and still. We’re all staring at the dark form of the plane, suspended above the placid lake. It abruptly drops toward the water, breaking the spell, and all eyes turn to Nick and to us, the swimmers who volunteered. I’m no longer aware of the aches in my abdomen and shoulders, or the pulsing pain from the side of my face. I only feel the eyes upon me, the frightened eyes of the almost forty people who face us on the bank, backlit by the crackling fire. Their breath hangs in white clouds in front of them, obscuring their noses and mouths. The beady lights on their yellow life vests glow in the thickening fog like streetlamps on a winter night in London.

And then I’m running, following Nick into the water toward the plane, which is dropping steadily now toward the lake’s surface. Three men and a woman stand in the aisles there, staring out, watching, waiting for us.

The cold water is a shock at first, like a wave of electricity flowing across me. I inhale sharply and will myself to press on. I lose a little more feeling with each step, though. Ten feet in, I’m up to my chest. I grit my teeth and plow deeper, pumping my arms, icy water splashing on my face and hair. From here the plane looks miles away, though it can only be another forty feet. Nick and the men are pulling away from me, and I fight to keep up.

One of the younger guys reaches the plane first. Carefully, avoiding the twisted metal tendrils that reach into the water, he climbs into the lower half of the fuselage, where the checked baggage is stored. He turns to help the next swimmer and the next, until all four guys are crouched there in the dark mouth of the plane, almost level with the water now.

I reach the jagged opening last, and Nick’s outstretched hand is waiting for me. His fingers clamp onto my forearm. “Grab my arm with your other arm.”

Two seconds later I’m crouching beside them in the lower half of the plane, drenched head to toe and colder than I’ve ever been in my life, my body shaking uncontrollably, every shiver sending waves of pain from my midsection and shoulders. The cold feels like it’s eating me from the inside out.

I feel hands around me, running up and down. Mike, the twentysomething guy assigned to my aisle, is rubbing my shoulders and back, trying to dry and warm me. I can’t look at him. I just stare at his green Boston Celtics T-shirt. How is he not freezing to death?

I can’t help myself, though—I lean in toward his warmth.

Nick’s eyes linger on us for a quick moment before he turns and yells for the people on the bank to extend the lines. They surge forward into the water, holding hands. The white points of light from their life vests stretch apart as they go deeper into the lake. As the line of people flows away from the fire, their faces disappear in the dark, the tiny lights the only indication they’re there. The two lines of light remind me of a runway at night, pointing this wrecked hull of a plane to the fire, to salvation. We can do this, I tell myself.

The men in the passenger compartment above reach their arms down, and I feel hands grasping me, boosting me up. I watch wide-eyed as I pass a little too close to the razor-sharp shreds of metal that protrude from the end of the floor.

The shock and ache of the water is gone now, and I wonder if that’s a good thing. But I can still feel my body. I still have control.

I stand for a moment, letting my eyes adjust. It’s dark here, even darker than I expected. I don’t know if it’s all the people, but it feels cramped, airless, like a mine shaft. Faint beams of moonlight filter through the oval windows like lanterns guiding us down to the watery abyss at the end of the aisles. The tail’s already filled with water, as Nick speculated.

Those people are already dead. We can’t help them, but we can save the others.

Through the lingering pain of the crash and the numbing cold of the lake, I feel my nerves rising. I can do this. I have to. I try to remember Nick’s speech, to focus on the key phrases, running through them in my mind, pumping myself up.

If we don’t go get those people, they will never see or talk to their loved ones again.

No one else is coming for them. It’s us, here and now, or they die.

The floor below us is sinking faster, leveling off, but it still slopes a little, a ramp straight back into the darkness.