He cried, shoulders shaking, head bowed. He ran his hand through his hair.

Charlene walked around Dave and stood next to me. “Dad,” she said, with a hand on the hilt of her sword.

I shook my head at her, and tried again. “Dave.”

He took one staggering step toward Sues. I wish I knew what was going on inside his head, what he was thinking. Part of me expected him to take a knee in front of his girlfriend and simply surrender. “David!”

He looked up at me. The tears cleaned the dirt in trails snaking down his cheeks. “You’re not touching her. You. Are. Not. Touching. Her!”

I kept an arm in front of my daughter. I sensed her muscles tense, like she might be ready to strike.

“Dave,” I said. “You can’t leave her like this.”

The scene was seared into my memory. She thrust her arms and shoulders, as she struggled from side-to-side and back and forth against the seat belt which now, thankfully, worked like a restraint. The cackles she emitted bounced around the shell of the inside of the plane. The screams competed with the droning whine of the engines.

“You are not going to kill her, McKinney. You’re not!” He pulled out a handgun. He aimed it at me, and swung around, pointing it at everyone.

“Are you kidding me, Dave? Are you out of your fucking mind?” I took another step toward him, and in front of my daughter. “Put the gun down.”

Dave didn’t listen. He didn’t lower his gun. He aimed it, not at me, not at Charlene or Allison, and not at Sues. He tipped his head back and pointed the short barrel under his chin. “There’s no point, Chase. I mean, really, is there? We go here. We go there. What’s the point?”

“We all feel that way, David. We all do, but we can’t give up. We can’t just, just…quit.”

“I have nothing left, Chase. Nothing. Josh is dead. Sues…” he said. He strained to look at her, and looked away. “None of this is going to get better.”

“It will, Dave. It has to,” I said.

“It has to? What the fuck does that mean? It doesn’t have to, it doesn’t ever have to. This country, this world, this planet, it’s sick. It doesn’t have to do shit to get better. I don’t think I can do it anymore. I can’t just keep doing this. I don’t want to keep doing this. I don’t,” he said. The crying came out in sobs. His words were tough to understand. I followed, though.

“We all feel that, Dave. You are not alone.”

Dave lowered the gun, pointing it at Sues. “Yes. I am.”

I held up my hands and stepped closer. “We’re going to get through this together.”

“That’s what she thought,” he said. “That we’d get through this together. I know it sounds stupid, man. It’s stupid, but I loved her.”

“It’s not stupid,” I said. It wasn’t stupid at all. “We’re not alone. We’re not the last survivors. Just a minute ago, before I came back here, we saw another plane.”

“What?” Charlene said. “There was another plane?”

“Yes, another plane.” I nodded. “We talked to them. A big plane that was headed north. They wouldn’t tell us where, but they were up here in the sky with us. Things are bad, may get worse, but we’re not alone. We’re not. There is a chance we can fix this. Rebuild. Start over. Dave, everything's not lost. It’s not.”

“There’s no hope, McKinney.”

“There is. It’s dim, but it’s there.”

He shook his head. “I don’t think--”

The plane must have hit a pocket of turbulence. We dropped quickly, and tipped left then right.

Dave lost his balance and fell into Sues.

She wasted no time wrapping her arms around him, attempting to pull him toward her mouth. Dark drool dangled from her lower lip. Her clouded-over eyes were open wide as she prepared to bite him.

I’d fallen back and into Charlene, who went down under my weight.

Allison looked stunned and paralyzed. She held onto her seat belt with both hands, as if making sure it was tight around her waist. Her eyes were squeezed shut.

“Honey, are you okay?” I said, and struggled to regain my balance. “Dave!”

“Fine. I’m fine,” Charlene said.

Dave locked his hands with Sues, like they might play that childhood game where you bend fingers back until someone screamed pinochle to end the pain and torment. This was no game. I felt thankful Dave was fighting back, if only to maintain his own survival.

The plane rocked, tipping to the left side.

Dave’s head, his neck, were a breath away from Sues’ wide-opened mouth.

Then I thought, he’s going to let her bite him. I found my feet and ran as best I could toward them, the crowbar raised.

The plane teetered back and forth before finally leveling out.

The teetering knocked me toward the opposite side of the plane, next to the last seat in the row Allison sat in. I fell hard, my elbow hitting the side of the first crate. Pain shot both up and down my arm. The funny bone. I was not laughing. Tears filled my eyes. “Dave!”

As I managed to get onto my knees, the gun fired. Sues’ head flew back as bits of hair and skin, skull and brain painted the inside plane wall in a graphic spattering.

Dave dropped the gun. He lay flat on his stomach.

I scrambled over to him, and lifted his head. “Dave?”

He was crying, lips quivered, his hands were balled into fists. I placed his head on my lap, and held it there. I kept his head in my lap while he cried.

Chapter Nine

“Chase!”

I looked up. Erway called from the cockpit. “Charlene, can you see what they want? Tell them, ah, tell them what just happened back here.”

She walked cautiously, slow and steady steps, from the back of the plane to the front. “I got it, Dad.”

Dave’s crying had stopped. He kept his head on my lap. I don’t think he had it in him to move. I made eye contact with Allison. She chewed on the skin around her thumb and shook her head.

Everyone seemed ready to give up.

“Dad, they said we’re low on fuel. The Pittsburgh International Airport isn’t far. Elysia wants to try to make it there and land.”

I nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

Charlene relayed my agreement. “She says we should all get buckled in again, because it could be a rough landing, if we have enough fuel, and it could be a fuck of a time if we don’t.”

“Charlene,” I said.

“Just telling you what she told me.”

“Go strap in next to Allison.” I lifted Dave’s head off my legs and set it down gently. I stood and walked over to the crates. Behind the first one was a tarp. I pulled on it. It ripped on one corner that had been stuck under the edge of the pallet. It would still suffice. I draped the tarp over Sues’ remains.

I slipped my arms under Dave’s, and lifted him up. “You’ve got to help me, buddy. We need to get you into a chair.”

“Want me to help, Dad?”

“No, keep that seat belt on.” I stood, kept my arms under his and dragged him toward the front area of the plane. There was no way I could lift him into a seat. “Dave, you’ve got to help me, man, okay?”

I didn’t expect any response, but Dave placed his hands on the seat and hoisted himself up and into it. I grabbed the ends of the seat belt and secured him in place. “We’re getting through this,” I said.

“You guys buckled in?” Erway said.

I went to the cockpit.

“Why aren’t you seated,” she said. “Go, get locked in. We’re not going to make the airport.”

“Palmeri?”

“Fuel’s just about gone. We’ve got too much distance to cover. I thought we might make it, but now, I’m not so sure.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I’m keeping an eye out for I-79. Figure if there’s a good stretch of open road it might work.”

“Our expressways were littered with abandoned and disabled vehicles,” I said. “Couldn’t even drive on them. How are we going to land a plane?”