“Tom? Chase? Do you repeat? Your GPS signal has disconnected. We can't-” The radio scattered the operator's words into sections of replayed audio before shutting down completely.

Major Tom

“That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. He walked all the way from Mississippi to Texas to find some girl he stalked on the internet! Can you believe it Tom?”
“It's definitely shocking.” He adjusted the tie around his neck for a bit too long. It was always too loose or too tight. Nothing satisfied him, not when his nerves were heightened.
This flight was going to be like any other except for one crucial detail.
His co-pilot was under the influence. If it was anybody else Tom would have reported them immediately. But He also just so happened to be best friends with this yapping train wreck.
“And- oh my god. The whole time I watched the documentary I was sucked in. Nothing could pull me away from the screen.”
“Chase.” Tom turned to the intoxicated man. “Drink some water. Try to sober up.”
“Why!? It's just a morning flight.” He waved his hands around uncoordinated. “The passengers won't even know if you do the announcements for me.”
“Could you just try to pull yourself together?” He continued to tug at his tie.
A long annoyed grumble came from Chase. He acted like a child whenever he got drunk. It was irritating to the point that Tom chose to drink alone. He'd avoid being around him if any substance was involved.
Although ever since Chase had gotten a divorce in his mid 30s he had relied on it a lot more. That made it much more difficult to ignore. HAHA DIVORCED!? LLLLLLL
An intervention was always in consideration but no one had the time to set one up. Most of Chase's family refused to help anyway.
Finally with a built up distress, Tom removed the tie completely. He tossed it onto one of the empty plane seats.
His main focus had to be on this friend. The passengers were going to board at any moment. Chase needed to be out of sight before complaints started to flood in.
“Hey how ‘bout you go wait in the cockpit.”
Chase raised his eyebrow like he was offended by something. “Bro, wait in the whaaat?”
“Oh my god.” Tom pinched the bridge of his nose. “Go before I lose my mind and you lose your job.”
“Whatever you say mom.” He put his fingers up in quotations and bobbed his head mockingly. He meant it as a harsh insult but it was just embarrassing for him.
Just as their conversation was about to end, the plane doors opened.
Tom swore under his breath and quickly grabbed his drunk best friend. He shoved him into the cockpit, slamming the door shut. A relieved sigh fell as he stepped back.
“Are you okay?”
“Huh?” He turned around to see a female flight attendant. Her brown hair was pushed nicely into a bun. The red lipstick lined around her white teeth just to make her look as presentable as possible.
“Ah Harley. Yes, I'm okay.”
“Good. It's going to be a long flight.” She smiled for a beat to think before her face shaped into curiosity. “How's the baby girl by the way?”
“Uhh I'd say things are going well.” He shrugged. “Although, I can't tell because y'know… the baby hasn't been born yet.”
Harley laughed. She started to check the seats for any trash left by passengers before. “Right, and your wife?”
“She's angry a lot but I assumed that would come with the pregnancy. Overall things are good. What about you? Anything interesting?”
“Oh no.” She shook her head dismissively. “Single as always and with my Paycheck a child is out of the question.”
“Right buuut…” Tom tried to hide his smirk.
“If you tell me to go on a date with Chase one more time I swear to god.”
“Oh come on! He's a good guy.” He shoveled in a few advertising words. “Plus he's great at flirting.”
“Are you speaking from experience?” She folded her arms.
“Well… he did think I was a woman when he drank too much at that Christmas party.”
“Oh God, I remember. Didn't he kiss you?”
“Oh no, that's just the gossip going around. It was just heavy flirting.” He then let out a big sigh. “Anyways I should probably get prepared for the flight.”
Before he could leave, Harley spoke up again.
“Wait.” She picked up the tie he had thrown down earlier. “I assume this is yours?”
“Right.” He took it from her hands. “Thanks.”
They both began to go their separate ways. Tom grabbed the cockpit door but looked back.
“Hey if it makes a difference, Chase is a great kisser.” He winked at her and lifted his foot off the floor. “Talking from experience.”
“So he did!?” Harley gasped in shock as he slowly closed the door behind him.
The moment Tom turned around, his joking smile turned into a vile frown.
Chase was laying on the controls, practically drooling all over the place, completely wasted.
“...Why am I still friends with this guy?”

_________________________________

Sparks flew from the open wires that threatened a fire. It danced over wet blood before sizzling out.
The pilots had their faces bashed into open metal. The controls looked like it was freshly painted a new coat of red.

_________________________________

Chase woke up with a hard thunk on his head. He flinched back and covered himself. “Ooow!”
He looked back to see Tom with a water bottle in his hand. As usual he looked overly pissed off. “Take it.”
“The hell did I do to you?” Chase grabbed the bottle before looking back towards the plane window. He almost jumped out of his seat. “We are in the air!? When did we start flying!?”
“When you decided it was a good fuckin’ idea to get drunk and pass out.” He replied coldly. “Are you still drunk?”
“Still has a little buzz but my head is killing me.” He rubbed the spot Tom had hit him.
“Yeah that's what happens when you drink Chase.”
“No it's ‘cause you assaulted me.” He shook the bottle.
“Could you blame me? I swear to God it feels like I'm working my ass off for the both of us.” Tom turned to him with a glare. “Next time you show up like that I'm gonna let you get fired.”
“Noted…Sorry man.” His tone was quiet as if he was surprised by the negative response.
Tom sighed with further frustration, mostly at himself for not being able to stay mad. This was a serious issue that had to be solved.
But thousands of feet in the air and miles ahead, he preferred this flight not be spent in awkward silence.
“It's fine. Let's just move on. We can talk later but for right now…” Tom inched his finger towards an aux cord laying around while raising his eyebrows.
Chase shook his head. “Seriously? Every time?”
“Oh you've got to admit you love it.”
“No, you love it because it has your name in the song.” He reached into his pocket to pull out a mp3 music player.
“Maybe” Tom shrugged. “But it hits hard sometimes.”
Chase grabbed the cord and plugged it in. The aux led to both of their headsets. “Yeah okay Mr. ‘I love David Bowie more than my wife’. I'm not sure if it hits hard or you are hard.”
Tom threw a punch right into his shoulder. “Play the damn song!”
“Alright alright!”

_________________________________

There was no sign of survival except a twitch in one of the pilots hands.
A loud pop from the wires shook consciousness into the man. A bloody gasp left his throat.

_________________________________

“Hey… Tom?” Chase flicked at the glass on one of the meters.
“Yeah?” He turned to him as the song faded out into its end.
“Something's wrong with the groundspeed. It's much lower… than the airspeed.”
“Are you still drunk? The ground speed isn't supposed to be the same.” Tom waved off the warning without even giving it another thought.
“No…it says zero.”
“what?” Tom's attention was caught now. Sure enough, it was all the way down to nothing. “That doesn't make any sense. That would mean we weren't moving at all.”
“Do you think it's broken?” Chase tapped on the glass again.
“I don't know but I'm calling it in.”
Tom reached for the controls but the second he did so the whole plane jolted to the left. It was too aggressive to be turbulence.
Lights inside the cockpit flickered off and on at a rapid pace.
“Shit! What the fuck was that!?” Chase yelled with adrenaline running through his veins.
Tom tried to keep his mind steady as he scanned over the controls. All of the measurements dropped to zero as if the whole plane was shut down. “I don't-”
Another jerk of the plane would have thrown them out of their seats if they were secured tight to the chair.
Chase scrambled for the controls, pulling the radio right to his mouth. “Everyone stay seated! Put on your seat belts and tuck your head-”
One after the other, aggressive pulls forced his words off track.
His heart skipped a beat when he heard the click of his seatbelt. Somehow it was loose. It completely unhooked the straps on his chest, sending his face right into the control panel.
The speed of the hit made drops of blood spray across the buttons rapidly.
Tom looked over as this happened. “Chase!?” He grabbed the back of his shirt trying to shake him. “Hey! Get up!”
The only response was a limp keel over that indicated he had passed out or worse.
Tom turned his attention towards the malfunctioning controls. “Shit!”

_________________________________

Taking in the scene, it didn't take long for the pilot to realize the plane was in ruins.

_________________________________

His hands trembled as he gripped the control wheel.
Tom felt as if he couldn't breathe.
It should have been a relief. The plane had landed successfully in a field of grass. Hardly any damage was done.
But to his right there was a chance that Chase could be dead.
He just couldn't calm down. The only thing that ran through his head was the idea of his best friend being dead.
“Chase.” The name came out as a tremble when he spoke. “Are you okay?”
There was no response. The blood pool around him had grown immensely. There was no way in hell that somebody could survive that much blood loss.
“Please no.” Tom reached for his shoulder and tapped it only slightly.
A loud gasp came from Chase as he yanked himself up from his limp state. His nose was broken in and his face was beyond fucked up. Panic hit like a train as he practically slipped out of his chair.
“Hey! Hey!” Tom put his hands out in front of him like he was trying to calm a hurt baby deer. “It's okay. The plane’s fine! The damage was minimal. I'm sure your… face is the only thing hurt in the process.”
Chase gasped a few times before taking a moment to calm down. He realized the danger they were in was most likely over. It was a relief but Tom's words were definitely not. “Minimal damage? Are you shitting me?”
“No, I don't think I'm physically capable of that.”
He tapped his face slightly but it stung at the touch. “There's no way I'm fixing this without surgery.”
“Meh, there wasn't much to see anyways.” Tom shrugged as he went to help him up.
“Kill yourself.”
“Good to see your mind is sharp as ever.” He lifted Chase off the floor.
_________________________________

He tried to get up from his seat but a sudden pain shoved him right back down.
Slapping a hand over his mouth was the only thing stopping him from screaming.
His right leg had been caught in a metal shard that broke off in the crash.
When it was clear what had caused all this agony, it only got worse as panic started to rise.
“Hey, I can't move-” He looked over to the other pilot but all that was there was a body mangled and deformed in the rubble.

_____________________________________

“What the fuck?” Chase stared into the empty passenger seats as he stepped out of the cockpit. “It looks as if no one was here at all.”
Tom was just as dumbfounded as him. “Maybe… they all already went outside?”
“Didn't we crash like… two minutes ago?”
“I don't know… Let's just get a look at the outside of the plane. With it malfunctioning so much I wouldn't be surprised if one of the engines went up in flames.”
“Yeah. Okay.” Chase nodded as they made their way to the door.
It creaked loudly as it was pulled open. Light poured into the plane.
Peeking outside Chase's expression only exceeded confusion. “Well, that's not normal.”
An oddly round shaped hall descended on the other side. White painted pipes and wires lined on the walls and ceiling. It led right to the plane door as if it was always connected to it.
Tom narrowed his eyes at the sight. “Where are we?”

_________________________________

“Help!” His voice trembled with the threat of tears. “Somebody!”
Everytime he got a glance of the limbs, hanging by a thread, his stomach turned. The smell of pennies increased over the past minute.
He soon realized that yelling for help was a bleak solution.
The only other thing he could think of was ripping his leg out of the metal.

_____________________________________

“This shit is crazy.” Chase put his hand back to put it on Tom's shoulder but he only ended up slapping him in the face. “Tell me I'm not tripping.”
“you're definitely not...” Tom's voice grumbled low, not really paying attention to his questions.
They made a few cautious steps into this place. It had to be a building or something. How it was that the hall connected to the plane was anyone's guess.
There was a turn that led in a different direction. Although it didn't matter where they went because everything looked the same. Just tunnel-like walls with wires and pipes.
A small tick of footsteps stopped them in their tracks.
“You hear that?” Chase asked before starting to shout out to whomever it might be. “Hello? Anyone there?”
The footsteps went silent for a heart beat. Then it thumped loudly as it seemed to turn and run, echoing off into silence.
“This is weird. I don't like it.” Chase shook his head and turned around. He tried to walk back to the plane. “I'm going back. hell nah.”
Tom grabbed his shoulder with eyes narrowed. “Wait.”
They stared back from where they entered to see that the plane entrance was completely gone. A wall only replaced the spot it had once been.
Chase shook his head while panic eased into his voice. He rubbed his hands through his hair as if he was going insane. “What the fuck is happening? This doesn't make any sense.”
He began to walk towards the wall. His hands pressed against it as if that would just fix the problem.
“Chase.” Tom urged him to step back. “Let's just try to find a way out of here. Stay calm.”
“Stay calm!?” He whipped his head around with a crazed look. “The plane just fucking disappeared! And we are trapped in some weird ass I don't know what it is!”
“Panic isn't gonna help us. Like you said. We don't know what this is.” Tom's tone shifted to a more demanding demeanor. “Let's just get out of here.”
“Oh and how the hell do you suppose we do that?”
“Start with maybe finding an exit” Tom shrugged. “I know about as much as you do.”
The footsteps returned. This time it came in loud thumps. Clearly the sound of someone running.
They both shut up and looked around for a cause but still no one was around.
Chase suddenly felt a price on his neck. He slapped his hand over it to feel some sort of metal piece. He pulled it off just to see it was a dart.
“What the hell?” A wave of nausea fell over him the second he spoke. He swayed heavily.
Tom grabbed his arm to keep him steady. “Woah! You okay?”
He didn't offer a response. His head bobbed down as he lost consciousness.
Making sure to catch him, Tom wrapped his arms underneath Chase's.
It didn't take long for another dart to be shot out of thin air and hitting Tom in the right leg.
He flinched at the impact and ripped it right out. Such aggression made him bleed more but it caused the sedatives to have less time to transfer.
The nauseating feeling was present but he managed. Still it only lasted for so long.
His knees buckled. He tried his best to lay Chase down softly but it still was quite a tumble.
Tom's leg was almost completely numb now.
The footsteps he heard in the distance were now right behind him.
Two strangers with guns ran up to him. One was a tall pale man with a shaved head. His eyes were sunken in with dark eyebags. He looked like a mental patient who hardly ate.
The second person was a woman. Her hair was tied in a tight ponytail. Unlike the man she looked healthy with tan skin and overall a pretty brunette.
“Oh my god!” She gasped the second she saw Tom's face. “Dimitri, you shot Tom! You only shoot intruders. What were you thinking!?”
The man didn't say a single thing. His expression was difficult to read.
“So sorry we thought you were one of the other assholes jacking the ship.” She smiled and stepped over to where Chase laid unconscious. “We can take this guy off your hands.”
“What? No!” Tom put his hand in her way as he tried to stand back up. “Who the hell are you?”
“Johanna?” She said her name with taken back confusion. “Is this a joke or something?”
“Could be the sedatives in his system confusing him.” Dimitri finally spoke. He had a thick accent that sounded Russian or polish. Even though his tone was flat, his guarded expression made it obvious he knew something was off.
“Tom, let's have you come back with us. You don't seem okay.” Johanna tried to put her hands up in surrender.
“No listen I don't know how you know my name but I am not supposed to be here.” Tom tapped on his shirt that had a stitched in logo of the airline he worked for. “I'm a pilot and my plane crashed. We tried to leave but we ended up here. And the man here. His name is Chase. Please if you try taking him anywhere let me come with. He hit his head pretty hard and he needs help.”
The both of them stared at him. Concerned expressions were poorly hidden.
“Let's get you back to your room.” Johanna dismissed this bizarre story.
“My room?”
“Yes Tom. Please calm down.” She grabbed his arm.
“Calm down!?” He pulled himself away from her. “You shot my friend and now you want to ‘take him off my hands.’ The hell does that mean!?”
Dimitri grumbled under his breath. “I don't have time for this. The ship needs maintenance checking in 30 minutes.”
“The ship?” Tom shifted his attention to him. “Like a boat?”
“Spaceship.” He answered quickly before demanding once again. “Let's go. Now. Unless you want all of us dead, fucking comply.”
The man was hostile as if Tom was truly a stranger.
“Just let me take care of my friend. Don't touch him unless you're planning to fix his injuries.” Tom negotiated.
Johanna and Dimitri looked at each other as if to communicate silently. Whatever it was their expressions got stern as if preparing for a resistance.
And resistance is what they got.
Dimitri grabbed Tom's arm to attempt to pin it behind his back.
This only led to retaliation. “What the fuck!? Didn't I just-”
Suddenly Tom felt an elbow ram right into the back of his neck. The force caused a stinging pain to run down his spine.
Dimitri was much taller and stronger than him. Any hit from a person like him was dreadful.
With one single step Tom realized he had stepped on the leg that was completely numb. All his body weight forced him to the floor.
Taking advantage of this, Dimitri put his knee on his back. He began to unload a tranquilizer from his gun. It fell to the floor before he scrambled to pick it back up.
That's when Tom got a glimpse of Johanna struggling to pick Chase up off the floor.
“Hey! I said don't touch him!” He pressed his palms on the floor trying to get back up. He hardly got the chance before Dimitri shoved the tranquilizer into his neck.
Tom let out a short yell as the needle struck his nerves. His adrenaline only made this sedative work faster.
“Don't!” He tried to acclaim his demands once more but his mind was hit with exhaustion. The words came out slurred. “…Don't-...”
The tunnel vision started slow but worked up into its full effect. He was out cold before he knew it.
_________________________________

It ripped through his skin only cutting deeper. He screamed in pain as he let his leg fall back into place. Panicked gasps burned his throat.
“Shit!” He slammed his fists back against the junkie controls. The feeling of hope was starting to drain. He wondered if he'd make it out of this alive. The chances were slim considering no one could hear him scream.
Everybody else on the plane couldn't have died. It wouldn't make sense. It just wouldn't.
Did everyone leave them behind? Or did they assume the pilots were surely dead and ignored any sign of survival?
Whatever it was, the pilot was clearly fucked. All he knew was that he was stuck here, staring at his dead best friend next to him.
Taking another glance, he wished this wasn't the last memory he'd have with him.
If this was karma he'd surely paid the price.

______________________________________

 

A bright light broke the entrancement of the drug. Squinting with his eyes still shut, Tom palmed his face.
He was soaked in sweat along with the cloth underneath him that he had hardly noticed.
Once his eyes partly adjusted to the light, he sat up to look around.
He was in, once again, a white walled place. This time it was an enclosed room.
The bed he was in had a double reinforced window right next to it.
He stared in shock as he looked through it. There were nothing but a million stars.
This made the spaceship thing make sense but not the fact that he was here.
His mind struggled to comprehend this to the point he couldn't hear the door opening behind his back.
“How's the view?” Dimitri stood leaning against the door frame.
Tom quickly got off the bed, scrambling to his feet on the other side to have a block between them.
“Y'know-”
“Let me out.” Tom interrupted.
“Ah…” Dimitri put his head down but a smile was reflected in his expression. “I would if I could. You have been quite annoying but you see I can't. We are in space after all.”
With an argumentative tone he tried to defend himself. “That's not what I'm asking-”
“Who are you?” Dimitri was interrupted back.
“What? You don't know me? You're friend really seemed to-”
“Yeah, of course not. Why the fuck would I know you? I'm not playing this childish game you and Johanna are playing.” He held a condescending glare.
Tom was immediately taken aback by his words. Did he think this was all a joke? “Game? This isn't a game. I don't know anything, okay? I just want to go home.”
“Mhm.” Dimitri pulled himself off the frame lazily. He took a few casual footsteps as he got closer, almost circling around the bed but not quite yet. “Since you hold your stupid act really well I'll play along and explain to you what's going to happen. How's that sound?”
Tom grimaced at him and leaned back. It wasn't enough to be a step but it was a movement of caution. “Not great.”
“So, I'm going to ask you one more time where you came from.” His steps only got closer. It was more threatening than it should have been. “When you spit bullshit then I'll go with my most reasonable suspensions. You and Johanna are spies for the competitors in the space race.”
“Excuse me?” Tom raised his eyebrows in awe. “If that were true, what gives you the right to trap me in this room? Much less fucking shoot me. The space race is competitive but not that competitive.”
“Do you really want to continue acting oblivious?”
“God. Maybe I just don't understand??” Tom shoved lies into his sentences just to get some answers. “I don't know, Enlighten me.”
“All of this…It's no longer a race, it's war.” Dimitri's tone shifted gears. He sounded a lot more bitter. “It's kept hidden from the public but once spies like you are near one of our NASA ships we have the right to kill you on site.”
“Wait, wait, wait.” His words sped up as he spoke. “So you want to kill me and my friend?”
“And Johanna.” He only added to confirm that question. “She seems to be in on it. It's unfortunate really. I liked her.”
Tom started to feel the panicked feeling of realizing his life is in danger. Although it was faint, almost like daja vu. Like this feeling was vaguely familiar. He hasn't felt it in the plane crash but something still reminded him of the feeling. He just wasn't sure what.
But now wasn't the time to worry about his feelings. He needed to find a way out. And possibly find Chase for bonus points.
“Listen I know my story sounds crazy but are you really just gonna jump to conclusions like that?” Tom tried to reason with him, though he had little hope. “What if you're wrong?”
“How could I be wrong? It's the most logical explanation.” Dimitri was nearly face to face with him once he pushed past the bed. His footsteps stopped here. “Unless you can tell me something that makes sense I'm getting rid of you.”
Tom stopped to think for a moment. He could run but Dimitri would most definitely catch up to him or worse shoot him on spot. All he had to do now was buy himself some time.
“My name!” He snapped his fingers as if he'd solved something incredible. “I assume you have communication with…earth. Look up my full name, Thomas Cosmo, and you'll see I'm really a pilot.”
“Cosmo?” Dimitri smiled but it was hardly friendly. “Isn't that a bit ironic?”
“Yeah... Could you please check?”
“...I guess. Hardly proves much but I'll consider it.” He shrugged. “But it will take about a day but if you try to leave this room I'll take things back into my own hands.”
“Cool, cool.” Tom put his thumbs up as if this man didn't just threaten to kill him. “Thanks.”
Dimitri didn't bat an eye to his excitement. He just turned away and left the room. Like a robot with instructions. When he shut the door behind him, he made sure to lock it.
Tom tapped his foot on the floor. He stood like an impatient kid at the fair.
The moment he was sure Dimitri was gone he hurried to the door knob. Shaking it and trying to jimmy it open wasn't something Tom thought would work. Still, it was worth a try.
To his surprise the door creaked open in the slightest. He swore up and down that he watched this get locked. There must have still been drugs in his system if he was seeing things.
The lights in the room flickered a few times before going back to normal. Tom narrowed his eyes as he glanced up.
Every event that laid out in front of him was almost rushed. It was like something wanted his attention, but he wasn't superstitious.
Undermining the lights and unlocked door, he cautiously stepped outside.
There was nothing different to see, just more hallways.
He had no clue how the hell he was gonna find Chase. This place was practically a maze but there was no way in hell he wasn't going to try. He ended up walking for an hour without luck. Or a sign from any other living person in general.
As his motivation dimmed he stopped to take a break. As soon as his steps were silent, he could hear the quiet sound of footsteps.
He followed the noise, trusting it to lead him to something.
The urgency to find something consumed him to walk faster.
Just as he came up to a corner, someone else turned it as well. They both practically slammed into each other.
Tom grunted as his hands immediately went to his face. His nose got hit pretty hard. He looked back up with blurry vision. Blinking away the tears, he realized it was Chase.
Relief washed over him as he grabbed his shoulders. “You're alive!”
“Uhh yeah, why wouldn't I be?” Chase laughed lightly through his words.
“Because you…” after the initial shock, Tom realized something was off. His face contorted into confusion.
Chase no longer had injuries on his face. In fact, any injury from the crash was completely gone.
He must have noticed Tom's shock because his smile turned into a frown. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, Yeah I'm fine.” He squinted in response. “Your… your face. It's fixed. How?”
Chase grazed the side of his face with his fingertips as if he had a hard time remembering what he meant. Then he suddenly had a light switch turn on in his mind. “Oh. Don't worry about that. Let's get out of here.”
“What? No, how the hell did you do that? Also how did you end up here? Last thing I remembered they took you away to kill you.” Tom held onto his question. He needed to make some sense out of all this confusion. A “Don't worry about it.” Wasn't going to satisfy his curiosity.
“Tom, come on. Let's just get out of here before they find us again.” Chase grabbed his arm. It was aggressive but not aggressive enough to spark any disturbance. At most it was slightly surprising.
“Dude- what's up with you? Just explain it to me then we'll-”
“Stop being so uptight dude. Just shut up. And let's get the fuck out of here.” He shoved him harshly before turning away. He seemed not to care whether he was actually followed or not. The only time he looked back was to and one more thing. “Besides, I already found a way out.”
“You did?” Tom asked half-heartedly. The way his friend was acting made it seem like he was a completely different person. Even when all signs pointed towards being suspicious. They were close, and whatever was wrong it could easily be blamed on something else. At least Tom wanted to make an excuse for his actions.

__________________________________

Blood drained in a slow and agonizing way. Each drop drove this miserable pilot into more dispare. His face was pale and his movements were feverish.
All his mind contemplated was whether he was ready to die here or not. That's all he could do. Accepting death felt like the only option but he never thought it would take so long.
As close as his fate actually was, he was starting to hope it was sooner.
Bubbled pops began to hissed through the room. It was easy to ignore at first but it got louder, cutting off his focus on draining out.
The pilot turned toward the sound in a startled confusion. His eyes locked on to what seemed to be the source.
The body of his friend had blood sizzling from each and every opening. As mangled as it was, it looked to be changing.
Sounds of bones cracking made him flinch back. No not cracking, they were popping back into place. Along with that was a strange vine that grew rapidly. It aided the process of recompsure. As it weaved its way around like a snake, it pulled metal and debris from the oozing flesh.
The living pilot felt his stomach twist in a knot at the sight. How this was even possible was unfathomable. All he knew was that he felt like he'd hurl up anything he had eaten that morning. Not so luckily for him, his body seemed too far off the deep end to have the strength to do so.
After about a minute of utmost disgust the body of his friend was put together. His skin didn't regenerate like his bones. The flesh simply hung low, threatening to peel off.
He tried to pull himself closer to the wall to distance himself but it only tugged on the shards in his leg. A hiss of air pushed through his teeth as he winced.
Disfigured and shaky, his “dead” friend stood up out of his seat, slowly turning it's head.
“How-... How are you still…” The horrified pilot spoke. His words began to trail off the moment it didn't feel like he was talking to somebody he knew.
The look in his friends eyes were dull, like he wasn't there.
A few moments of silence fell between them. The only sound being the heavy breathing of this mangled man.
Just as the pilot tried to process what the hell was happening, the hollow shell of a man took a step towards him.
“Hey hey.” The pilot shot his arm out in front of him as his voice trembled “Take a step back this is freaking me out.”
Once again there was a pit of no response. It left an uneasy feeling in the air. It was the suspense that killed. Not understanding what was going to happen ate away at any sense of comfort.
After the uneasy feeling floated around the pilots head, the absolute worst outcome came true.
The half dead lunged for him.

______________________________________

Their steps clanked softly as the casual walk continued.
Tom, with a setting discomfort, hated this more than anything. Sure, he was glad to have Chase by his side again but to find him in this state was strange. He didn't even act like he really wanted to leave this place. A quiet hum to a cheerful song was the only indication of reaction.
The nagging feeling to question his actions only grew more when the further they went the less this place looked upkept. The metal underneath looked rusted and the elastic stretch of paint was shriveled up and cracked. The air almost smelled rotten like pennies and dust.
All of these things put together finally made Tom stop in his tracks. He watched Chase continue for a few more steps before his humming stopped. He realized the sound of a second pair of feet were no longer present.
He turned around looking at Tom with a raised eyebrow. “What?”
“Where are we going?” You could tell by his tone he was starting to be skeptical of his own friend.
“I already told you.” Chase replied with an innocent shrug. “I found a way out.”
“This?” Tom waved his hand at the rugged passage in front of them. “You found a way out through this? Because to me it looks like it's abandoned beyond any sort of repair. If there was a way out it wouldn't be over here. There's got to be like an escape pod or something right?”
Chase scoffed with a taunting smile. “Seriously? You watch too many movies.”
“At least I'm trying to do something.” His words rang with impatience. “The way you are acting, it's like you don't give a shit whether we live or die here.”
“Do you not trust me? I'm trying to get us out of-”
“No! Chase no. I don't fucking trust you. You won't even answer me.” He snapped back. The fear and stress he had once before shifted into anger. Whether it was truly how he felt or not, he had remorse to take feelings into consideration. “When have I ever trusted you? I save your ass all the time. There was never a time where I didn't have to watch you like I'm some damn babysitter.”
“What? Tom, I'm just trying to help you.” Chase’s expression of condescending, fake innocence only angered him more.
As Tom fell off topic of the issue at hand, he couldn't help but spiral into a meaner determination. “Maybe that's it. You don't care if we get out of here because you're a drunk with no life. It doesn't actually matter to you because you have nothing!”
Chase was taken aback by his sudden hurtful comments. He tried to reply but it was quiet. “That's not-”
“Yes it is!” Tom stepped forward, shoving his shoulder with aggression. “You never cared! That's why you drink yourself to death. Well tough luck! I do have something to live for! I have a family that I need to get back to. You do not get to act like a pussy right now! Stop keeping shit hidden! You're acting selfish!”
He stopped throwing insults, heavy breaths rising in his chest. Waiting for a response he glared at Chase before he noticed how horribly his demeanor changed. Maybe he had gone too far because the only thing left between them was a mist of hate. He was starting to regret his own words. “Listen, Chase-”
Without a second thought, Chase brought his arm up and balled his hand into a fist. He swung at Tom, hitting him across the face. He stumbled back not prepared for such a violent response.
Even as he was in a five second defenseless state, he wasn't let off the hook that easily.
Another blow struck him on the side of his head. The shock caused him to crumble to the floor.
Chase tried to step over him but he was met with a sharp kick in the stomach.
“Fucking asshole!” Tom shouted as he started to notice a feeling of something warm and wet stream down his face. He wiped his hand across it to see the blood that dropped out of his nose.
Adrenaline must have taken control because Chase recovered from the kick a lot faster than he should have. He knelt down, shoving his knee up against Tom's chest. Without hesitation, he threw an unfair punch even as it was clear who had the upper hand. “Is that really what you think of me!?”
__________________________________

“Get off me!” The pilot struggled to keep his throat from getting ripped out. His brain dead friend kept trying to bite his neck like a rabid animal striking to kill. The only thing preventing it was a tight hold the pilot had on his shoulders to push him back.

__________________________________

“You think I'm some fucking liar!?”
Tom gasped for air between punches but his state of mind was hazy. He could hardly react before another bloodied fist slammed back against him. His face ached with repetitive pains. He desperately tried to speak up to tell Chase to stop, that he had already won this fight.
__________________________________

“Please! Stop!” His arms began to give out. There was no way in this hell he could escape being mauled.
There wasn't much time to think, or understand why this was happening. He felt as if he was going to die without any answers and at the hands of his best friend.
His arms finally gave out and he squeezed his eyes shut.
A pain of being ripped to shreds should have been what to prepare for but it never came. Instead, a loud bang of what sounded to be a gun crashed through the window.

__________________________________

The hits almost wavered Tom unconscious. His brain fuzzed off into his own fictitious state. He could hardly feel a thing now.
Right before the brink of collapse Chase stopped. He was exhausted but he still stood up.
Tom's eyes were blurry and his tunnel vision fought back as if urging him to lay back and pass out. Nothing good would come out of that.
A pained groan left his throat as he rolled over onto his side. He coughed up blood.
The taste heightened in his mouth once he caught some sort of awareness.
If anything he wanted to curl up and cry but that would only cause more pain and he didn't have time for that.
Chase leaned back against the wall with his arms crossed, hardly looking apologetic for what he had done. “We have to keep going.”
Wincing as he tried to sit up, Tom shook his head. “Fuck… that.” His mouth ached while he spoke.
“I'm not really asking you.” He pushed himself off the wall before walking back up to Tom. He knelt down and lingered there for a second before tilting his head. “Y'know, I was gonna kill you just now but do you know why I stopped?”
A pale expression fell over his already banged up face. He never imagined Chase would say something so gruesome. The fact he even considered it was heart wrenching “You what?”
“I stopped because I remembered what role I'm supposed to play. I may have gone overboard. I wasn't exactly sure how he would react to your words.” He ignored the confusion he intentionally caused. “So I improvised.”
“What?” Tom's face contorted into a mixture of worry and confusion. It wasn't quite clear what this ramble was about but it sounded anything but good. “What role?”
“Honestly…” Chase put his hands on his knees as he pushed himself back up. “If you don't get it now I don't think you ever will.”
He took a few steps around Tom before grabbing the back of his shirt. Without making sure he was gentle he began to drag him.
Tom grabbed his wrist in retaliation. “Hey! what the- hell?!”
Still partly recovering from the blunt force trauma to his head it was hard to stand back up. Each time he tried his body was anchored forward.
“Chase, let go of-”
Cutting his words off, Chase reached under his arms pulling him to his feet.
Tom managed to stay up with a few staggering steps. He distanced himself the moment he got a chance.
Chase gave him a flat stare before pointing towards a banged up door that seemed to have appeared out of thin air. Just like the rest of the wall it was rusted. There was no handle on it. Only a wheel to turn that most likely kept it secure and locked. Besides that was a built in touch screen of some kind. It looked beat up but the screen flickered on with a fighting bit of electricity.
“We're here.” His tone was a mix of “I told you so” and anger.
Without taking a single step, Tom stared at it. His eyes were already swelling, it was starting to get more difficult to see what was right in front of him.
Another annoyed sigh caught his attention. Chase waved towards the door. “You gonna go or what?”
Tom folded his arms in a manner that made it look like he was hugging himself. This was getting weirder by the second. “You go first.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah seriously. Asshole.” Tom said, knowing damn well he shouldn't provoke things any further. Getting beat half to death wasn't going to be a fun round 2 but his trust in his friend was lost back on that plane. He couldn't help but have a bitter feeling.
“Fine.” Instead of lashing out, Chase just sighed before grabbing the wheel on the door. It screamed with a high pitch screech like it hadn't been opened in a hundred years. Eventually, he got the door open.
Tom couldn't see what was behind it, so he took a few steps closer.
What he hadn't realized was that Chase had his eyes on him, waiting for his curiosity to get him just a little bit closer.
Just at the right second, Chase grabbed his arm and pushed him into unknown waters.
Tom's adrenaline spiked as he heard the door slam shut behind him. Before he even took in his surroundings, he turned back around. “Chase!?”
On this side, there was no wheel to turn, no way of leaving.
“Have you figured it out yet?” That familiar polish voice spoke up across from him.
Tom turned around to see that same BALD ASS MAN, Dimitri. He leaned against a large window behind him. Or at least it looked like a window at first but after a while it was clear to be a slide door to space. Something about it made this feel so unrealistic, like this was a dream.
Dimitri wore all the necessities to safely enter zero oxygen besides the astronaut helmet which he held, pressed against his hip.
“Have I figured it out?” Tom repeated his question. He was already distraught enough, this was only making him impatient. “Whatever it is you want me to understand I don't want a single part of it. I don't care what you want from me. I'm leaving.”
“That's funny. You think you have a choice?” Dimitri scoffed with a smile. He pushed himself off the glass and turned around to take in the view. It was as pretty as ever but it almost just felt like a void with tiny dots of light. Like there was no real reason it should be there in the first place. He took in a deep breath before looking over his shoulder slightly. “You have 5 minutes before this door opens. Do whatever you want with your time left.”
This cold room started to feel hot as Tom's heart rate sped up. “What?”
“You understand me.” Dimitri lifted the helmet off his hip and started to click it into place on his head.
Tom stood there processing each word. If that door opened then he was as good as gone. As his breath deepened into faster huffs his throat dried up. He thought to reply and argue for any reasoning left but there wasn't enough time.
His feet twisted around back towards the door. He slammed his fist on the metal as hard as he could. It hurts but he didn't care.
“Chase! Open the fucking door!” His voice was raspy as he yelled. The desperation oozed into his words. “Please! You can't do this man!”
Tom could feel Dimitri watching his every move but he hardly bothered to acknowledge him anymore. The banging of his fist continued until he realized there was no point. His breath laborosly pumped through his chest as he took a step back in defeat.
He hadn't thought about it until now, if he died here he would never get to see his baby. The dread of wishing she could be born sooner, just so he would have a face to remember in his final moments, created a knot in his throat.
His wife would have to take care of things alone. He didn't want to leave her behind with a baby and no income. How was she supposed to get through this unscaved if he just vanished? He had too much to live for and now the likelihood of getting his life back was zero to none.
These thoughts coursed through his head like a buzzing fly that wouldn't leave him alone. Tears welled up in his eyes as he gritted his teeth.
He could choose to keep fighting but something in his gut told him he had lost this game a long time ago.
And then it clicked.
Everything, all of it didn't make sense for a reason. As real as most of this felt, it surely wasn't. The reason he had a familiar feeling with the threat of death was because he was already dead.
Accepting his fate was the only option, so in the moment he was just going to remind himself of all the people he never wanted to forget.
A shaky breath left his throat as he tried to keep his emotions under control. “So I died in that plane crash…right?”
Dimitri shrugged. There was a mutual understanding that Tom had finally realized this was nothing but a warped reality. “It’s hard to say… Your body is just no longer yours. Your mind is still alive… that's why we keep you company. To make sure you can still function.”
“So, I'm alive?” He asked hoping for some kind of good news to crawl out of this hole.
“Let's call it a coma of sorts. Your dreams will just feel… very real from now on.” Dimitri didn't even try to hide his smile as he spoke.
The sound of his voice showed the immense amount of despair he found himself in. This inevitable death would throw him in the mouth of unknown. “What happens if I die here? Like this?”
“You'll start over. Right back in that hallway. You won't remember any of this.”
Speakers abruptly blared from an unseen source with A female robotic voice “Decompression in T-minus ten seconds.”
Tom paid no attention to the loud voice. His mind began to tick with possibilities. “...Have I done this more than once?”
10
“4 times so far.”
9
“Is there a way out? Can I wake up somehow?”
8
7
6
“Answer me. Is there a way out?”
5
“Yes… but you'll never find it.”
4
“Why?”
3
2
1
“You're too weak.”
__________________________________

The bullet ripped through the zombie's head. It staggered in shock but didn't seem to be dead.
There was a muffled sound of men shouting at each other coming from the door. Then loud bangs and Soon enough the door caved in. It allowed access to all these armored men. They wore gas masks and held onto heavy guns.
The first one that stepped inside went towards the living dead man and shoved him against the partly broken window. Another went to assist the pilot stuck in the chair. “Sir, are you alright? Are you infected?”
“Infected?” He looked back at the masked man. “What? I don't-”
“Your leg, can you free it?” This swat looking man talked urgently as if he wanted to get out of here as quickly as possible.
“No.” His voice shook with the dread of moments before but he was relieved to get assistance.
“Okay, we'll get you help as soon as we can. Just sit tight for a minute to get our medic in here.”
The one holding down the zombified man struggled slightly as he was fought against. He swore under his breath as he pulled his gun out. He shot the zombie in the back of the knee so it couldn't balance itself up right.
The sound of the gun made the pilot flinch. He hated to see this. Even after hours of grief and denial pooling together, it broke him apart.
“What's your name sir? Full name if you can.” The man standing next to him asked, pushing his thoughts away.
His voice was cracking as the tears he led back began to fall “...Chase Bettiker.”