6
Here at the end, when it’s almost over, I begin to understand what might have happened to this section of the plane. After it broke away from the nose, it spun a hundred-and-eighty degrees as it hurtled toward the ground. The treetops around the lake slowed it down before it hit the water. It crashed tail-first, and that probably saved a lot of lives: the impact threw people back into their seats instead of forward where the seatbacks would have snapped their necks. The tail probably reached the bottom of the lake seconds after impact, and it’s been resting there since, the two engines hanging down from the wings acting like the middle of a seesaw, propping the torn end up out of the water. That’s my best guess. But the engines—or maybe the wings, folded down, or the landing gear, or whatever was propping up the center—have broken free now, and so has all hell. The water in the fuselage, heavy as concrete, is finally pulling the center down. She’ll be on the bottom in seconds.
“Everybody out! Now!” I yell.
The last of the survivors who helped us pass the bodies out climb up the aisle and into the waiting line that stretches to the bank, where bodies lie in uneven rows. All the way to the fire, it’s a blur of yellow inflatables around bloodied, swollen faces, some bobbing in the water, others standing waist-deep, all working with their last ounce of strength. The horde hardly looks human, but they’ve been saints tonight.
The guy in the green Celtics T-shirt—Mike, I think he’s called—brushes past me, shivering, his head down. I grab his arm, searching the chaos around us. “Where’s Harper?”
Mike coughs and glances behind him. “I thought she already bailed.” He nods. “Yeah. I think so.”
“All right. I’ll make sure. Go.” I give him a push, and he walks to the edge of the plane and paddles into the frigid water.
I peer back into the abyss, but all I see are bodies, inflated yellow life vests round their necks, floating up toward me. I turn, walk back up the aisle, and scan the faces all the way to the fire, but I don’t see a slender woman with blond hair, no life vest. She’s not there. She didn’t get out.
Something bursts below me—a life vest, I presume. The spray of water hits my face like a bucket of ice water. I shake my head and focus, staring into the dark aisle. Another body floats past, and then I glimpse a figure, slim arms reaching above a seat. Then they’re gone, swallowed by the blackness.
It has to be her.
I dive into the flooded aisle, my hands gripping the backs of the seats that face me, pushing deeper, past bodies and floating objects I can’t make out.
It’s her. I can just make out her bruised face. I grab her outstretched arm, but the fingers don’t close on mine. She feels lifeless, and that stops me cold. I float there, my mind blank, for a moment.
But her arm’s moving back and forth, trying to reach for me. I pull on her, but she won’t come free. I close the few feet between us, wrap my arms around her in a bear hug, plant my feet on the seat, and push. It’s like she’s tied down. My chest is pounding now, either from lack of oxygen or from fear.
I drop lower, grip her just above her waist, and thrust out with my legs, giving it everything I’ve got, and we’re free, floating in the aisle, but she’s not moving. My chest feels like it’s going to explode, but I keep an arm around her and kick at the seats, propelling us up. She feels unnatural, like a rag doll in my arms. The sensation is sickening, but I keep going, the sparkle of the moonlight through the water brightening slowly as my limbs grow numb and panic consumes me. We break the surface, and I gasp for air. For a moment I lose her. I grab her before she can go under again, then kick with my last ounce of strength, but I can’t keep us above water. I’m spent. I try to suck in a breath, but I mostly get ice-cold water.
Voices around me, but I can’t make them out. I hold on to Harper, kick toward the shore. My legs don’t work. I’m limp in the water, something tugging at me. Water flows into my mouth, and I spit it up, choking. I shut my mouth and eyes and try to hang on.
I open my eyes again and see only yellow rubber, a life vest mashing into my face. I blink. Above me hangs a sliver of moon, stars brighter than I’ve ever seen them before. And then I’m on the shore, dragged by hands under my armpits. My head falls to the side, and I cough up water until I’m dry-heaving. I feel a blanket enfolding me, hands pushing, turning me toward the fire. The heat assaults me, scorching at first, the contrast to the cold nearly unbearable. Waves of heat wash over me, soaking through my skin to my shivering bones, each blast more bearable than the last. It’s as if I’m coated in layers of warm mud; it burns, but I can’t bring myself to turn away.
Seconds pass, or it could be hours; I’ve lost all sense of time. Hands grip me and lay me on my back, and I hear footsteps racing away, returning to the lake for someone else.
I roll over onto my side and search the camp. Harper is beyond the fire, on her back, Sabrina crouched over her, working feverishly on her still body. Sabrina’s eyes meet mine. I’ve seen that look before. My head falls back to the ground. The stars fill my eyes again, and then they fade away.