We're Still Alive(Book1)BEING REWRITTEN

Twenty-Two

Iowa

          Jared woke with a jolt, gripping the arms of his seat. He found out pretty quickly why he'd been lucky that he'd never had to fly on a plane before. It wouldn't bother him so much if there wasn't so much turbulence.  Was that normal? Or was something wrong?

           "Relax, you're gonna give yourself a heart attack or something." Casey said from beside him. "It's just turbulence, it's a normal thing with planes."
          Jared looked at her. "H-how long have we been flying?"
          "A few hours, I think. You just missed the call from Lynn, we just got into Iowa." She replied. Jared could tell she was trying not to smile, and he knew she was laughing at him. Trying to relax, he took a deep breath and loosened his grip on the armrests. "There you go, that's better." Casey patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll be there soon." He just nodded, still trying to stay calm. Just then, the plane jerked downwards and then straight again, and Jared though he heard a loud metallic sound outside his window, but he convinced himself that he was just imagining it. He was just paranoid, that was it.
          'Never again,' he thought to himself, 'am I ever flying on another airplane, ever.'
          "Why are we setting down?" Someone behind him, a guy named Miles, said. He had the same accent as Lynn, and Jared could see similarities between the brother and sister.
           Jared looked out the window and realized that they were, in fact, lowering to the ground. They landed in what looked like a smaller version of their airport, and in minutes the plane was filled with yelling and arguing. But they couldn't be landing now...Casey said they were only in Iowa. Jared saw Lynn exit the cabin and trying to get their attention, but no one seemed to notice. He suddenly remembered the pistol Renee gave him, and without even thinking about it, fired three shots into the ceiling of the plane. The gun was a lot quieter than he thought it would be, but it caught everyone's attention. Lynn gave him a thankful look and started talking.
          "I'm sorry," She started, "I'm so, so sorry. I thought it was in perfect condition, it looked well enough, I didn't expect anything to happen."
          "What happened?" Someone else called from the back of the plane. Jared didn't recognize the woman's voice.
          "The right engine was starting to fail, so I brought it down before we could crash." There was more talking and fighting, but another shot from Jared's gun shut them up. 'I'm getting good at this.' He thought as Lynn continued. "Now, Ohio is a few states away, and it's a long way to go, but if we can find some cars or trucks we could make it there in a few days, a week at the most with the exception of detours. Does anyone have a problem with that?" As she said this, she glanced at Jared, like she was daring anyone to protest. When no one said anything, she clapped her hands together. "Okay, this place may not be as safe as the last one, so our more experienced shooters will go out first, the rest will follow. Has everyone got that?" Again, no one answered. Jared watched as Tom, Ella, and Renee stood up. They were followed by Miles and the other more experienced shooters. He heard a few gunshots outside seconds later, some muffled by silencers, others clear as day. After a few minutes, Tom called something from outside, and the people at the front of the plane began moving. Jared and Casey were farthest from the entrance, so they went last. When they got outside, Jared noticed Miles and the girl from the gate, (was it Laina?) were taking a head count. Once they were finished, the people in front started walking out of the airport and into town. A few of them trailed at the back of the group and walking backwards, some were sidestepping to watch both sides of the group. Jared walked tensely with the gun in his hand. He thought about how good it felt to shoot it. Was that a bad thing? That he liked it that much? Or were most people like this when they first shoot a gun? He was pulled from his thoughts when he bumped into Casey, who had stopped with the rest of the group. Looking around the others, he saw Tom, Lynn and Renee checking some cars in front of them. One was an red jeep that looked to be in good shape. Another was a white pickup truck, and the third was a dark blue van. After checking the vehicles, they turned back to the group and Tom started talking.

          "So there's keys for both the van and the pickup. We can't find any for the jeep, but I can hotwire it to get it going.  The jeep can fit five people, the van seven, and the other four will take the pickup. The three of us will be driving, so find someone to ride with and hurry." With that, he turned to the jeep and started messing with something, Jared guessed he was hotwiring it. Renee took the pickup and left Lynn with the van. The group started to split apart to their rides, and Jared walked over to the jeep almost right away. He'd grown used to Tom in the little time that he knew him, so he didn't hesitate to pick him over Lynn or even Renee. Jared trusted her, but at the same time he felt like she wasn't completely stable. Then again, none of them were, really.
          As he walked, Jared heard Casey following, and he wasn't surprised. She knew Tom just about as long as he did. They were joined by Joe and Laina. He and Casey jumped in back with Laina, and Joe took shotgun as Tom started the jeep and sat up in the driver's seat. They waited for the other rest of the group to load up, then took position in the back of the single-file line of vehicles driving through Iowa.