The sound of the crash echoed throughout the island. From miles away in any direction, black smoke could be seen rising above the jungle forest. The air above the mountain grew thick and impenetrable through the haze. Closer to the crash site, the scene wasn’t actually too bad.
Not much can be said on the impact once the nose of the plane reached the flora-covered mountainside. The whole event was loud, disorienting, and over quite quickly. Augie’s tumbler of rye was not as lucky as it was before. None of them were. The ferocity of the shaking cabin made their last bout with turbulence seem like a the touch of an aggressive masseuse by comparison. The group were collectively jerked in every direction in quick succession.
Those lucky enough to be strapped into their seats suffered a slightly more fortunate fate; the worst taking some bruised ribs and a case of whiplash. Sonny and Marlo, wildly untethered, were tossed around the space with reckless abandon. Marlo reached out for something, anything, to grab onto while internally cursing Isaac Newton for coming up with those damn laws. Sonny was less thoughtful, instead trying his hand at being knocked unconscious and thrown about like a dog’s worn out chew toy. Both methods proved to keep them alive throughout the whole endeavour.
Then, after an instant and an eternity fought over which timeframe would be more appropriate (ultimately deciding to occur simultaneously), it was over. As he remained in his seat, eyes tightly shut to avoid confronting reality, Augie was sure one of two things were true. One, he had died and would open his eyes to see whatever was the most plausible version of an afterlife. Or two, the worst had yet to happen and opening his eyes would show the next disaster approaching an instant later. Either way, Augie was quite sure he would not be getting out of this alive; but he also knew so long as he kept his eyes shut, he could keep reality at bay. In a similar state of shock, the whole group sat unmoving. No one wanted to be the first to give in and open the Schrödinger's Box that was their fate.
Sonny was the first to make a move, coughing himself back into consciousness. As he cleared his airways, he rolled off his back and onto his knees; taking in the sorry scene around him. The sounds of life caused the rest to stir. Slowly, they all opened their eyes to see the shape they were in. It wasn’t an airport in Bahamas, but they were alive.
Looking around, Augie saw the damage the plane had taken. The cabin was a mess. The food and drinks usually kept in the flight attendant’s quarters had made it into the main cabin and Jackson Pollocked itself onto the floor and walls.
Sitting up a little, he could see through to the pilot’s quarters, which now looked significantly smaller than before. The right side of the plane’s nose must have taken the brunt of the impact, because the left of the pilot’s quarters was all that remained. Still, the left half of the now smashed window offered an albeit hazy view overlooking a lush, green forest. It might not be an airport, but maybe we made it Bahamas after all, he thought.
The control panel no longer had any semblance of a panel nor means of control. On the co-pilot’s side of the pit, the panel was a mess of metal and wires, compressed and moved so it met the door to the flight attendant’s quarters. Through to the left side, Augie could just see the captain’s arm hanging to the side of his chair.
Retreating his vision back into his own vicinity, Augie looked from Sonny — who was now using the armrests of the nearest chair to help him climb into the seat — over to the band. Charlie, Ben, and Tina were gazing around in a shocked stupor. Augie scanned across the group from left to right, passively taking them in one at a time. Gone was their usual air of pretension, but they looked lucid. That is, until he landed on Syd, sitting limply in her chair, eyes closed.
His years dealing with passed out musicians kicked in. As if on instinct, Augie rose up out of the seat, only making it a few inches before his seatbelt, feeling ignored, demanded attention. Augie winced as the belt dug into what was surely the early stages of a cosmically-coloured bruise and fell back into the seat. Frustrated at the belt for not knowing when to be affective and when to give it a rest, he unbuckled it and tossed it aside. He used his arms to push himself into the not-quite-fully-upright position familiar to any regular sized adult that’s flown on a budget airplane.
He maneuvered into the aisle and over to Syd; kneeling down to get on her level. As he moved, Augie unconsciously noted how the plane did not teeter under the weight shift in the cabin. That was a good sign. “Syd. Hey, Syd,” he said urgently, a rasp caught in his voice. He put a hand to her shoulder and gave her a gentle shake.
“Don’t shake her like that, she might have broken bones” came a voice from behind. Glancing over his shoulder, Augie saw Marlo is the doorway to the cabin, clutching the frame for support.
“Broken bones are the least of her worries if I can’t get her to come to,” he replied with an edge to his voice.
“It could be if it’s her along her spine,” Marlo shot back. She abandoned the pretence of her customer service voice. “Maybe check to see if she’s breathing before you rattle her into consciousness.”
Augie gave Marlo a look to say Well, yeah; obviously I was just going to do that. When in fact, the thought had yet to occur to him. Turning back to Syd, he put a finger under her nose, checking for breath. He thought he could feel something, but wasn’t sure. Thinking a basic knowledge of human vitals might prove himself Marlo, he brought two fingers up to Syd’s neck, tucked tightly under her jawline. If he wasn’t so focussed on finding a pulse, Augie would have seen everyone— Marlo, Ben, Charlie, Tina, and even Sonny from the other side of the cabin— staring wide-eyed and with bated breath. After a couple seconds, he felt something, but it wasn’t a pulse. A slender hand grabbed his wrist and shoved him off. The audience let out a collective sigh of relief. “Why are you touching me?” Syd asked groggily. She opened her eyes and straightened up. As she moved her head, she winced and grabbed tan back of her neck.
“Careful, you might have broken something. We all might have.” Marlo cautioned. To that, everyone quickly but carefully tested their range of movement, working different muscles groups one at a time. Even Augie stood up and tried out his joints. Although it only lasted about six seconds, the whole scene looked like it could have been a choreographed dance to some avant-garde musical jam. In fact, for a brief moment, everyone’s movement synced up perfectly with “Frownland” by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band.
“I think I’m alright,” Tina announced first. The other members of the band nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, I think we ended up okay given the circumstances.” Augie said. “And the plane seems pretty solid. We should probably get off and get our bearings. By the looks of it, I think we made it to Bahamas, so it’s just down to finding the nearest town.”
A doubtful scowl spread across Marlo’s face. “I don’t think we would have made it to Nassau; we were still about an hour away when we ran into the turbulence.” Augie made a face, she caught it and continued, “But I agree, we should get onto solid ground. The plane seems fine now, but who knows…” she tailed off. She made her way over to the door on the left side of the cabin and reached out for the lever that ran parallel to the ran parallel to the door itself. It was currently locked in the rightmost position with a large red arcing arrow pointing to the word OPEN on the left side of the door. With her right hand gripped on the wall for support and the on the lever, Marlo pulled it across with practiced ease. Instantly, the door released its seal on the cabin. She pushed the door outward, sending it swinging to the side, revealing the view from their mountainside perch.
From this perspective, they could see miles of lush greenery, offering no visual penetration into the ground below. Mountains made valleys, and valleys wriggled out into plains of flat land that stretched out as far as their eyes would allow them.
Augie joined Marlo and peered down through the open door to see ground beneath them. It was much closer than he had feared; less than a ten foot drop. The ground immediately below was rocky and uneven. Not the kind of place someone would lay down a picnic blanket, but would work in a pinch if the emergency evacuation of a small airplane was demanded of it.
Augie and Marlo exchanged a look of hope. She raised her arm outward, offering him first admittance to the world outside. “You get down first and help the others from there. I’ll stay up here and help them drop down,” she said.
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Augie nodded, “Yeah, I was going to suggest that too.” Marlo rolled her eyes away from him in genuine annoyance but said nothing. Augie did not notice. He lowered himself down so he was sitting in the doorway with his legs dangling in the open air. With a push he left the plane floor and landed on the ground below. He looked back up at the others who were crowded around the door. “Easy. Now who wants to get out of there?” He quickly found himself wanting to be the hero of this story.
One by one they all hopped down until Marlo was the last to exit. Just as she was lowering herself into sitting position, they all heard a pained groan. The group on the ground looked around in confusion. Marlo’s eyes went wide. “Oh my god!” she said to herself and got back up to her feet. She hurriedly ran into the cockpit, out of view of the others. A moment later they heard a worried “Oh shit,” followed by a louder “I could use a little help in here!”
No one rushed for a beat. They all stood thinking someone else, namely Augie, would be the one to go in. Even Augie, momentarily forgetting that he was Augie, looked around for him to make a move. When his own identity dawned on him, his body responded; jumping for the bottom of the open door.
Augie had never attempted, let alone successfully executed, pulling up his own body weight. It is widely discussed that, in times of emergency and adrenaline, the body is capable of things that would never be possible under normal circumstances. This was not one of these times. He expected to grab the frame, heave himself back into the plane, and take off in a heroic run. What actually happened, in spite of the events that led up to this moment, were much more grounded in reality. Augie got a hold of the bottom of the door, the momentum of his jump lifting him up to his elbows. From there his muscles understood what was asked of them and promptly went on strike, delegating the task to his lower half. His legs kicked frantically, searching for a ladder that flat out refused to exist. The motion was not entirely unlike an Irish Stepdance, although admittedly an offensive attempt at one. He began to lose his grip, his elbows letting go of their hold. In a vexing moment of relief and embarrassment, Ben and Syd rushed to his aid. They grabbed onto his squirming legs, gripped under his feet, and pushed. The demands of his upper body’s strike seemed to have been met and he was able to pull himself up enough to swing a leg onto the plane floor. He rolled the rest of his weight into the cabin and strenuously got to his feet.
As quick as he could manage, Augie brought himself into the cockpit doorway. Inside he saw Marlo bent over the body of the plane’s pilot, Captain Simon Webster. “He’s still alive, but I need help getting him out,” she said glancing back toward him. The already cramped quarters were now haved. Augie made himself ignore the havoc that consumed the left side of the room. There was only crouching room for one behind Captain Simon’s seat, and the control panel was brought right up to him, cramping his lower half. The man looked pained, but lucid and alive.
“My legs are a little stuck but I think I can get them out,” he offered.
“I think if we each take a side we can lift him up and out,” Marlo said, twisting to the right side of the pilot’s chair. She gestured to Augie to take the other side.
“Right, okay,” he got out and moved to the vacant side. They were both more behind than beside, but it would have to do. Mirroring Marlo’s grip, he hooked his arm under Simon’s armpit and grabbed his own wrist for support.“Ready? One, two, three!” On three he pulled up. Marlo did the same. Captain Simon yelped in pain.
After a very unfruitful two seconds, Simon yelled “Okay, okay, okay! It’s not working!” They relented their hold, setting him back down. “I think something is definitely broken down there. My right leg I think,” he said catching his breath.
“Fuck, okay. Yeah, it’s this chair. It’s at such an awkward—” Augie’s words were cut short by an idea. He looked to the others. “Are these seats adjustable?” He asked.
Marlo’s eyes went wide. “Oh! Yes!”
Simon pointed down to the bottom left of the chair. “There is a button down there to recline.”
Augie bent down a far as the limited space would allow him. At the side of the seat was a grey button about the size of a quarter. As he pushed it, he felt the backrest jerk backward. Marlo pushed it further until it reached maximum reclination. “Okay, that’s it. Let’s try again,” she said, linking arms with the Captain again.
Augie righted himself and did the same. “Alright, ready? One, two, three!” Again, on three they pulled. This time they pulled back instead of up, and it was the change they needed. Simon still made pained noises, but his body slid up onto the backrest until his legs were free.
Augie and Marlo gave space for him to feebly maneuver out of his seated position and get to his feet. As he put weight onto his right side, he nearly collapsed. Marlo caught him and brought him back up. “Something is definitely broken,” Marlo deduced. “Let me help you.” Augie walked back to the exit to let Marlo him walk out.
As he saw the others gathered outside, he announced, “The Captain is hurt, but we got him out.” As if waiting for his introduction, Simon emerged behind Augie, an arm around Marlo for support. He gave a little wave and the audience responded with a sigh of relief.
Augie hopped out of the plane more ostentatiously reckless than before, and offered his hands to ease the Captain down. With the help of Marlo and a few others, together they lowered Simon out of the plane and onto the ground. He looked around in wonder at the world they had landed in.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Sonny remarked. “Where did we land?”
Simon shook his head soberly, “I don’t know. We were still about 360 miles from Nassau when we experienced the turbulence. Next thing I remember I was waking up in a crushed cockpit and could hear you folks climbing out the exit here.” He looked around as if no one had thought to find signs of civilization. “We wouldn’t have even hit any of the Bermuda Islands for another 300 miles or so.”
“Could we have veered off into the States? Are we still in the country?” Ben chimed in to ask. Augie could feel the group’s power dynamic shifting from him and onto Captain Simon. He wasn’t particularly a fan of it.
With Marlo’s help, Simon hobbled over to a nearby rock to ease the weight off his one good standing leg. The others followed, hanging on every authoritative word. “I really don’t think so.” The really was stretched out as he brought himself down to sit. “By latitude we were still in line with the states, but we were still at least 200 miles off the coast of Georgia. It just doesn’t make sense. On a flight like this we always anticipate BT interference, but that shouldn’t have come into effect for at least another 45 minutes.”
“BT interference?” Syd questioned
“Bermuda Triangle,” Simon and Tina answered simultaneously. He gave her a weak smile. Marlo nodded knowingly; this wasn’t her first rodeo, nor was it her first flight in the vicinity of the Triangle.
“But that’s not…real, right?” Augie asked skeptically. “That’s stories. For conspiracy theorists and lazy science fiction writers.”
The Captain’s eyes, along with the rest of his physical form, typically tended to give the impression he was in his fifties. Which worked out just fine because he was in fact 53 years old. But as he looked at Augie and his face grew serious, his eyes were beyond their years. His stare held the gaze of a much older man, a man in his sixties perhaps. “Oh it’s very real. I can assure you.” Just like that, the tensioned dropped. Simon’s eyes again had the dazzle of a spry 53 year old. “But like I said, we wouldn’t have passed into the Triangle until we’ve nearly reached the Bahama Islands.”
Augie turned away to look at the view again, shaking off the tense moment. As the group behind him continued to talk, he took in the environment. Sonny was right, he thought. It really is beautiful… as far as disaster sites go. The weather was nothing short of perfect. Not a cloud in the sky, but the sun wasn’t beating down harshly. The air was warm but only felt by a barely perceptible light breeze. On the light breeze was a sweet aroma that enhanced the whole scene without commandeering the senses. Forget the qualifier; crash landing or not, this place was a stone’s throw from paradise.
A noise sounding an awful lot like Augie’s name brought him back to reality. He spun around to the group. “Augie? What do you think?” Marlo asked.
“I didn’t hear. What were you talking about?” Augie made his way back to the rock.
Marlo slowed the words to emphasize the re in reiteration. “Simon suggested a few of us go see how far this ridge goes around.” She pointed to her right where the flat section of the mountain curved and disappeared around a corner. “He thinks it might lead to a trail we can follow to the top where we can get a better view. The rest of us will stay here and see if anything on the plane is working that can make contact. What do you think? Want to go with Ben, Sonny, and Tina?”
Augie did not like the idea of venturing off, but the promise of leading a small crew made him feel important. The fact that Marlo did not once use the word lead neglected to occur to him. “Yeah, I could take them out. Get a good lay of the land and all that.”
Simon began to stand as he addressed Augie. “Great, but don’t go too far, and not for too long. Meet back here and—”
As quick as the shadow of a fast moving bird, a large winged creature covered in black feathers cut off Simon’s words. It swooped down and used its blood-red talons to grab him by his Pilot’s shirt, lifting him off the ground. Simon screamed and several other joined in. In a tug-of-war with gravity, the bird bobbed up and down as it brought him off the cliff’s edge. In a second, they were over the open air. Simon fought and squirmed. Struggling to carry the wriggling weight, the massive bird lost its grip, letting gravity seize possession. Simon's scream quieted but grew in intensity as he fell straight down. The others watch in horror as he took the long plunge toward the forest hundreds of feet below.
He only made it about 10 of those feet before the bird, not to be outdone, circled back and dove towards him. It looked like a black blot of ink, tarnishing the vibrant colours of the jungle below and the sky above. For the second time, it used its talons to latch onto Simon, snatching him right out of the air. The creature carried its prey, who was significantly less resistant than before, around the far side of the mountain, disappearing from view.