Apocalyptic Shorts Read Online Free PDF Page B

respond. His lips are pursed; he does that when he is observing something he considers strange.
    “Dad,” I call again.
    He glances around and looks at me. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” he says in a lowered voice. “Most of the people on this plane are acting strange.”
    “I haven’t,” I say mockingly, smiling.
    “I’m serious Steven. There was a short hairy man when we boarded the plane, he was angry and very impatient. He bumped into two guys, an old man and a woman.”
    “Yeah, I saw that.” I say, keeping my voice as lowered as his. I look at the woman again, she’s the woman the hairy man bumped into, and she appears unsettled. “Wait, you think he infected her with his unfriendly attitude? Come on dad.”
    I look around and find the old man that was bumped into. I see the back of his head, bald and gray haired. He is looking left and right in the exact same way as the woman. I look for the hairy man that bumped into them and I find him three rows behind us. He is looking left and right too. He stops and catches me staring. His face is pale, and his eyes are bloodshot black instead of red. I think that is strange. I become nervous. His hair is curled and appears strangely strong, his lips are twitching. Something is definitely wrong with this man. Not just his anger or hostile attitude, he looks sick. I look away when his eyes catches mine. Suddenly, I want to get off the plane. The hairy man, the woman and the old man, they make me nervous. I press my back against the chair and try to slow my racing heartbeat.
    “Dad,” I say, barely hearing the sound of my voice. “Dad,”
    “What’s wrong?”
    “I want to go to Nevada, I really want to, but not in this plane.”
    “What? Why?”
    The plane moves, and now it’s too late for me to get off the plane without making a scene. I know I’m going to have to ignore whatever it is I’m feeling in my gut right now.
    “What Steven?”
    “I have a very bad feeling.”
    He smiles. “You have bad feelings about many things.”
    I want to tell him this is different, that I feel so sick right now that I could vomit, but it’s my birthday, and so far, it has been good with the two of us together, and I am not ready to ruin it with a stupid gut-feeling. I nod, reassuring myself I can handle a little anxiety. You’re sixteen Steven, you’re grownup now, act like it. But no matter how hard I try, I only get more nervous, and now I feel like I’m going to barf already.
    “I’m going to the bathroom,” I say.
    “Okay.”
    I get up from my seat and walk to the back. I try not to look at the hairy man, and I can tell he is looking at me. I enter the bathroom and try to force myself to vomit, but nothing comes, so I wash my hand and face with water. I stand there for a few minutes, staring at my reflection in the mirror, thinking of a million ways things could go wrong on this plane. That man could be psychotic. What if he lost it? What if Paul was right, what if his madness is transferable through physical contact? What if everyone suddenly go crazy? I’m not the type that gets scared of flying, but every atom that makes me Steven Sanders is telling me something really bad is going to happen.
    I get out of the bathroom and walk to my seat. Before I get to my seat, the woman Paul was staring at turns her head and look behind her and our eyes meet. She is pale with black stuff in her eyes, exactly like the hairy man’s eyes. She looks really angry too. Seeing her look at me the way she is looking at me, the feeling that took minutes in the bathroom to suppress comes rushing back. I stumble, but I grab on the nearest seat for support. The man on the seat looks at me, black veins are in his eyes too. I get to my chair and sit.
    “What took you so long?” Paul asks.
    I look into his eyes to see if he has the black veins too, but he doesn't.
    “Are you alright?” He says. “You look... tensed.”
    “Tensed?” I blurt quietly, frowning. “Like,