Chapter 1

My last day on earth started just like any other day. I woke up a few hours before my shift at the airport. Made sure to let my dogs out and feed them before I did anything else. I'd heard something a long time ago in a movie about dog sledding that really stuck with me. It went something like "Any man who eats before his dogs is no man at all" and for some reason it really resonated in me like I was someone new after hearing it.

It's weird I know but that’s just life in general you know something small you didn't expect would change your life ends up being way more impactful than anyone could have guessed. I'd do my regular routine after that and shave, shower, get dressed and eat a meal or two. That's actually something that embarrassed me more than it should have I absolutely loved food. Which I mean who doesn't?

I'd end up eating twice what a regular person had for dinner just as my breakfast. Now in my defense I'm kind of big guy I mean I'm six foot and an inch or two give or take depending on what shoes I've got on at the time. Not only am I tallish I've always had some heft to me around two hundred and fifty pounds as well. Like I said I love food.

Any way I'd have my breakfast and spend the last hour or so until it was time to head to work just reading or watching something to pass the time. Just like every day the news would go on and on about the world and how shitty of a place it is. Gunfire in what was once a peaceful town or sicknesses spreading whether it's a virus or bacteria or disease didn't matter it was always something.

I'm just another one of the masses I go to work do my job and do it to the best of my ability head home and do it again all while keeping my head down and trying to avoid becoming something the news anchors report on. Just like every day I get to the airport head through security and nod to one of my coworkers.

It's about half-way through my shift when several unmarked vehicles' tires squeal on the asphalt outside of the airport. What seems like an army of men and women in suits quickly make their way towards the security checkpoint reaching into their coats for their ID's as they quickly walk through metal detectors with the alarm going off as they pass.

My supervisor is with us immediately and tells us to let them through. He says it's the FBI which has me frown and think "What the heck are feds doing here?". We let them through and quickly follow leaving a few FBI agents to watch the checkpoint weapons out and searching for something.

The lead agent shows my supervisor a picture with about five mugshots on it. They begin speaking in hushed and hurried tones all I manage to make out are "......... terror............ armed..........dangerous.......". My boss nods and falls back to where myself and two other TSA agents are following behind the large group of agents.

"Listen up everyone the FBI wants this as quiet as possible so no using any of the radios we can't be sure they aren't compromised. The FBI have reason to believe that a group of armed terrorists are currently inside the airport and are looking to hijack a plane." He sighs and rubs his eyes clearly the news has him more anxious than I've seemed him before.

"The FBI has no idea if they have a specific target in mind or if this is a getaway plan but since we can't use our radios, we need to inform every security personnel we have discreetly no running or shouting alright?" He looks at the three of us making sure we understand.

We nod and immediately head for different areas of the airport to find another one of us. The faster we find another agent the faster the entire airport is on alert. I head for the furthest terminals from where the agents entered the building hoping to avoid anything.

Sometimes I wish I didn't think this stuff because life is all about Murphy's law and I hate it. Halfway down the terminal I see a group of five people. Three men and two women from the outline of their clothes. That in itself isn't odd or what made me think these might be who the feds were after.

No, it was the fact that one of the women was holding a kid's hand and walking quickly towards a gate that had just got in. I'd worked here for over twelve years and had seen every type of kid in an airport. You've got the excited, bored, screaming, and even scared kids because being that high up set adults off so why wouldn't scare a kid.

This kid though he was terrified looking around frantically. I pulled out my phone and called my boss while walking down the terminal hall without looking in their direction. My boss picked up annoyed "I thought I told you radio silence?" I sighed looked over at the group and the kid saw me look his way and his eyes were screaming for help. I motioned with a finger against my lips for him to remain quiet.

"Mark, I think I've got something at gate 45B group of five three men two women. A flight just got in and is going to be deplaning shortly. They've got a kid with them too maybe five or six years old I think they might have snatched him." I can hear Mark yelling through the phone and the sounds of feet slamming onto the tiled floors of the airport. "Good job try and keep them there but don't raise suspicion."

I nod to myself hang up and put my phone away. I slowly make my way towards the gate desk and notice it's Debbie and Shaun behind the desk. That's going to make things more and less difficult. I've known them since I started working here so me showing up won't be suspicious but I don't want them in the mix.

I sigh and walk up with a big smile on my face. "Shaun hey man how's the day been for you so far? Debbie as beautiful as ever I hope you've kept someone in line.". Debbie perks up when she hears my voice and Shaun smiles but rolls his eyes at me. They have been dating for a year at this point.

Shaun somehow figured I was to thank for the two of them dating. When Debbie start work here around three years prior, I had tried to break the ice when Shaun and I went to introduce ourselves. It ended up being incredibly creepy kind of hit on vibe which sent her into a fit of laughter and it was the same for Shaun.

My people skills really needed a lot more work back then. Although Shaun says they still do. Debbie springs from behind the desk to pat me on the shoulder. "He you're getting smoother and smoother there Drake. It's too bad I'll never forget exactly how cringy you were when I first started."

I sigh and shake my head while Shaun chuckles behind the desk. I look to the side and see the kid is being tucked almost inside the group of five. I wink at Debbie and head over towards the group. I can hear Shaun behind me say "Oh boy here we go again. Why does he always hit on clearly taken women?" he laughs as Debbie hugs him from behind.

"I think it's sweet everyone likes compliments. Besides, you know I've only got eyes for you." Ughhhhh come on you two please stop I don't want to hit on terrorists....... Unless you know they're cute. I stop in front of the two women behind the men and smile brightly at them.

"Good evening their ladies. I'm sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you invented airplanes. Because you are Wright for me." They are obviously high-strung but the shorter one gives a short little laugh and the kid in between them is staring at me like I'm an idiot.

I take a deep breath and keep chanting in my head "This is for the greater good greater goo.........." That is until I hear Shaun bark out a load laugh that Debbie immediately smacks him for. I look down in shame letting the natural blush roll across my face and as I look down, I pretend to just now notice the kid who's still staring at me.

I let the smile find purchase on my face again as I squat down and look him in the eye. "Well high there little man. You don't look so good." I say with a chuckle to allay suspicion. He looks at the woman still gripping his hand then back to me but nods. I smile a little brighter as he does.

"Ha that’s alright trust me I still feel uncomfortable when I fly too. How many times have you ridden in an airplane?" he's still looking at me hoping I'll do something and all I can think is answer the question keep the ball rolling. He looks down at his feet for a moment then back up at me. "This is my first time....... sir."

I nod and look up at the woman holding his hand and try to smile as charmingly as I can. "Ma'am would you mind if I showed him something? It might help with his fear of flying." She looks like she's about to say no as a TSA agent drives past on a small airport car.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

She takes all of a second to make her decision as she smiles down at me and pulls the kid a little closer to us instead of the middle of them all. "Of course sir anything you could do to help would be very appreciated." I nod and slowly pick the child up and slowly walk towards the information desk with Debbie and Shaun.

"What's your name little man" I ask. He quietly says Max and I look back towards the group to now notice they are eyeing me which I try to make it look like I didn't notice as I smile at the two women. "Well Max I must say you have a very beautiful Mother and Aunt over there." The men quickly roll their eyes and look back towards the women then back at me.

Both women smile slightly but it's clearly strained as I take their little insurance package a few feet away. "Max this is my buddy Shaun." Shaun smiles at Max. "And the absolutely incredibly cute woman next to him is Debbie." Shaun sighs and stares at me like I'm being extra stupid today while Debbie smiles and walks towards me and Max.

"Hi there sweet heart." Debbie smiles as she gets closer to us. "I'm so sorry you had to listen to my friend here hit on your mom." She starts to pat his head and I start to hear the sound of people running. Fuck if I can hear it then they can too. I look back and the group and see that they are looking towards the sound of the running then back to me.

Still holding onto Max, the woman who'd tried to pass herself as max wakes closer to us "Thank you for being so nice to my son. But I'm not entirely comfortable being away from him in an airport." I slowly nod in understanding but put max down to sit on the information desk.

I smile back at her and motion for her to come closer "If you'd like ma’am, I could show you and Max that way you are with him the whole time." She shakes her head and looks back towards the sound of people running and shouting for others to get out of the way. I frown inwardly guess that’s as far as I was getting.

I move back towards Max and then slide him toward Shaun and Debbie on the desk and say "Grab him and get down now.". They both look at me funny until his supposed mother quickly pulls a gun from behind her back. "GIVE ME THE KID NOW!!!!!!" Shaun grabs Max off the desk and quickly hides on the other side of it with Debbie.

Even with a gun pointed at me I can't help but smile. Even when a gun is pointed IN MY FACE, I can't help but be a cheeky little shit. "I'm sorry ma'am but what kid?" I look around with my hand against my forehead trying to find Max. She cocks her gun and stares me down. "You've got until I count to three to hand him over."

Yep definitely not a good idea to piss of the person with the gun. "One." Ok fuck think she's only five feet away but that’s plenty of room for her to keep her distance. My hand is still on my forehead as I continue to think but to her it must look like I'm still fucking with her. She grits her death in anger and shouts "TWO!". Everyone else now in the terminal has noticed the people with guns as you can hear them screaming and running away.

Without any thought as I watch her finger tighten on the trigger of her pistol it's almost like life's in slow motion as she opens her mouth to say three. I duck and twist to present less of a target and dash towards her. Obviously, she gets her shot off and boy does it land but it's doesn’t hurt as bad as I thought it would, so she must have grazed me.

Everything still seems slowed down as I watch her eyes go from angry and determined to surprise as I close the distance for her almost instantly but for me it's like every moment is an hour. My right hand is in the air before I know what I'm doing and all my digits are closed into a fist flying like a meteor straight for the woman's face.

Sadly, the only thing I've been paying attention to is her so even with time seemingly having stopped I didn't notice as her group all open fire in my direction. The reason I say direction is that they'd apparently expected me to have stayed put and be riddled with bullets instead of taking the initiative and attacking.

That doesn’t mean they all missed however as I felt at least one bullet bite into my thigh but it was definitely too late for the woman in front of me. My fist landed with all the delicacy of a hammer against glass. I felt her nose break and watched as her eyes rolled up into her head. I thought that was it until she started to glide backwards like she was on wires in an action movie.

As she sailed backward, I moved forward with her going from a straight dash forward to serpentine steps. I would lunge forward as low to the ground as I dared so I could still stay upright and shifted from leg to leg quickly dodging left and right to throw off the rest of their aim. What surprised me was that somehow, I made it to them long before the first woman's body did.

And had the world not gone slow mo I'd imagine she was traveling at a decent pace. The remaining terrorists were staring at me wide-eyed well all but one of them. The tallest man narrowed his eyes and aimed down towards my legs with his weapon and since I'd run out of room on the ground apparently my body decided to try the air.

My feet slammed into the tiled floor and I swear I heard the tiles I was standing on crack as I launched myself over the group bullets still flying as I feel maybe two more bite into my left leg as I pass over their heads. I quickly bring up my knees to tuck and roll through the air only for both of my knees to catch on something soft, squishy, and after the impact wet with blood.

Each knee hit a different man standing beside what I assumed to be their leader directly in the face. With my momentum being quickly transferred to the two other men I only managed to do one flip on my way to the ground at the feet of the last remaining man and woman. As I'm falling, I see the body of the first woman is about to hit her fellow femme fatale.

I was expecting it to brush up against her and then fall but instead I was able to watch an almost comical slow-motion train wreck as the unconscious body slowly pushed her arms which held her pistol trained on where I was about land. Then when the rest of her hit the last woman her feet slowly left the ground, and she joined the now slowed woman's body on its journey to the ground.

From the way it was still traveling I expected the journey to continue for another five feet for them both. Which caused the conscious woman's eyes to bug out of her head as she began moving against her will. As I was about to hit the ground, I turned back to see the last man's face.

It was bright and lit up with an impressed but smug grin. As if even with whatever it was, I had just done without meaning or knowing I was capable of was all for nothing. Which kind of pissed me off which was never a good thing.

My back hit the tiled floor below me and the last man standing had his gun pointing directly at my chest. Time seemed to stop doing whatever the heck it was doing and I could now hear everything that had just happened. People still screaming or sobbing and the FBI agents hollering for the man to drop his weapon.

His grin fell from his face as he looked up and was greeted with six agents pointing their weapons at him. He sighed and slowly opened his coat which contained within it was a vest covered in wires and had a digital clock facing the agents. There was a lot of thoughts racing through my mind like wtf how did I do that and boy I hope no one else is hurt but the loudest one was about the bomb vest.

It pretties much went "HOW THE FUCK DID HE GET THAT IN HERE!!!! WHAT THE FUCK DOES SECURITY EVEN DO HERE!!!!!" He dropped his gun as the agents had instructed but had pulled out a remote from his pocket. This was the first time I'd heard any one of their group speak but it wasn't an accent I was ready for.

"Excuse me agents but I would be very careful if I were you no?". What in the actual fuck this dude had a French accent. The French don't blow shit up they get attacked then surrender those are the rules. Laying on the floor I could now feel exactly how fucked up my little stint had made me. My right arm and fist and my legs felt like they'd been put into an industrial shredder.

My hand was definitely broken going on how the knuckles didn't line up anymore. "As much as I would like to stay here and stare at you all I've got a plane to catch." Ughhhh fucking stupid line dude. None of the agents made to move as he slowly backed up towards the gate.

That was until I slowly started to get up, he froze and his smile slowly fell away into a frown. "Ahh Monsieur you were not something I.........." He looks around to his group who are on the floor unresponsive save for the one woman who was now being held down by two other agents. "Nor my compatriots were expecting. This should have been a smooth get away had it not been for you. I'll be sure to look you up the next time I come to America."

I'm on my feet now and managed to snag his weapon off the floor on the way. Now I'm not exactly a crack shot, but he doesn’t need to know that. I aim at him and stare him down. "What do you mean next time pal." I cock the gun and smile at him. "I didn't say you could go yet." His frown deepens as he looks between me and the agents behind me.

"Do you not think that I will do it hmm? Connard you really think I will not kill us all?" My smile grows wider as I start to move towards him. "I think that if you wanted to you could have done so the second you were surrounded by FBI. I think you would have done it after I handled your friends." I was now less than three feet from him gun still leveled with his head.

He started to walk backwards as the agents shouted for me to drop the gun and for him to stop walking. Thankfully I had a plan. Admittedly it was a very shitty plan but I had one. The jet way he was walking backwards in was beginning to fill with passengers from the plane he was waiting for.

He smiled when he turned his head and turned his back on me as he walked towards the crowd confident, I wouldn't shoot with them in the background. He was sort of right he flinched when he heard the shot ring out and swung around to face me. He wasn't ready for me to be in front of and now tackling him into the glass window of the jet way.

Or at least there'd been glass there until I shot it that is. Now depending on the airport, changes how high some jet ways are this one was around thirty to forty feet in the air. Which meant it was a relatively quick drop with two of us. I wasn't really thinking after I got him out of the terminal and onto the ground which would explain why he landed on top of me.

I could have sworn I heard something snap and the pain receptors told me it was probably my spine considering I couldn't feel my legs anymore. That was fine for now at least I shouldn't need them. The man rolled off of me and a groan of pain left him as he started to get up. I saw him put both hands on the ground to get up which meant one thing.

That remote wasn't a dead man’s switch otherwise we'd both be dead already. As he staggered backward, he looked down at me in fury. He spat at me. "You stupid mother fucker. You just had to get in the way. After I get out of here, I'm going to slaughter every one you've ever......" He got exactly that far when I shot him in the knee.

After that it was a lot less ranty about the hell he'd rain on my friends and family and a lot more screaming like a bitch. Actually, why the heck wasn't I screaming. I looked down and noticed that there were bones sticking out of both my legs. All I could think was boy am I glad I can't feel that. I shot him again as he lay on the floor.

Each shot not really doing the job of killing him like I wanted but there were definitely more screams. I kept firing until all I heard were screams and the click of an empty gun trying to fire an empty mag.

Stuff kind of blurred together after that I remember so FBI agents taking the gun out of my broken fingers in my left hand. Huh, maybe that’s why I wasn’t aiming properly. Then I remember the inside of a helicopter I think I was strapped to some board or something. Then I was inside of a hospital that was the last change of scenery after that it was always hospital and more hospital as I woke up and passed out again.

I remember seeing Max with some lady and man was she a looker absolutely beautiful in the mature motherly way like she could scold you any moment or offer you a comforting should to cry on the next. I saw Debbie and Shaun too but I don't really remember if they said anything it was mostly crying.

Then I remember nothing just darkness then someone told me to choose. I tried to ask what the hell they meant but no words came out. Instead, I saw a massive book in front of my it was black leather and all the edges were gilded in silver. It opened to me and all I saw was a list of things I couldn't really tell what they were but as I watch the book and tried to make something out thing were circled and then the pages would turn.

Over and over and over it went all the way through the book as ten separate things were circled. I had no idea what was happening all I could think was why did I have to have dreamt about some book when I could've dreamt about Max's mom. Maybe she'd ask me out for what I did and then maybe things go well........... maybe be we date and if things went well maybe I could've been a dad.

That was my last thought before the book vanished and with it so did I.