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be piled up in the aisles, like the bodies he
had found in the basement of the pub yesterday? Whatever the case
they would almost certainly end up falling from the sky once the
plane’s fuel tanks emptied. He went back inside.
    Matt had known all along what his plan for
today would be - to find his parents. Even though the thought of it
made him feel sick, he realised that they would probably be in the
same state as the other people he had found yesterday. He had no
idea what he would if he found them, other than bring them back to
the farm and keep them comfortable, but that would be better than
doing nothing at all. As the sun started to lift above the eastern
horizon, he made himself a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and
toast, which he shared with Elvis. He wasn’t particularly hungry,
but he knew his body needed fuel for the difficult day ahead. It
tasted like ash in his mouth as he forced it down.
    Matt had no idea what to expect in town
today; he might find everybody back to normal, but he didn’t think
so. If there were any chance of that he would have heard from
somebody by now, and he had heard nothing. For no reason other than
it couldn’t do any harm, he grabbed his father’s shotgun and an
extra box of shells from above the bedroom closet and headed to the
car. He had no firm plan other than to look for his parents. Since
they were in town last night at a party, he figured he would start
his search at their friends’ houses. It would have been so much
easier if he had known which friends had hosted the party, but he
hadn’t thought to ask. If he couldn’t locate them that way, he
would branch out and search some other likely hiding spots. After
that, he wasn’t sure what he would do. For now though, he was
confident that they would be “hibernating” in one of a few regular
haunts (not a good word, he thought to himself humourlessly) and
would be able to bring them home. As Matt started the engine Elvis
jumped up into the passenger seat of the truck. Matt took a deep
breath, “Let’s go boy”.

Chapter 11
     
    Sally remained on the floor of the balcony
with her arms over her head in the classic protective position. As
the noise from the plane’s initial impact began to fade away it was
replaced by the sounds of small explosions. Sally knew very little
about air disasters but she had a strong feeling that these blasts,
while frightening, were just a precursor to what would be one final
almighty explosion, as the plane’s fuel tanks burst and turned the
whole aircraft into a massive incendiary bomb. Without rising to
her feet, Sally starting scrambling toward the relative safety of
her apartment, as occasional burning lumps of metal started to ping
down around her. When she reached the open doorway she rolled into
the apartment and slammed the door shut behind her with her foot.
“Ohmigod! Ohmigod!” she screamed as she lay on the floor with her
hands over her ears. Seconds later came the real explosion, and the
noise seemed to suck all of the air out of the apartment, as the
glass in the balcony doors blew in. She was peppered with tiny
fragments of safety glass, as the heat poured in on a wave of oily
smoke and embers. She heard thousands of pieces of rubble and metal
raining down onto the world outside her windows, as she felt
herself going into shock, before passing out.
    Sally had no idea how long she had blacked
out for, but when she regained consciousness her head was
throbbing, she was coughing uncontrollably and she thought that she
was blind. After a terrifying moment she became aware of a
rectangle of light that was her door to the balcony. The smoke in
the room had reduced visibility to almost zero, making her think
that she’d lost her sight. Now she cried with relief. At least she
would be facing this nightmare with vision! She might go crazy, but
at least she could watch herself do it. She stood up gingerly and
headed quickly to the balcony for fresh air, but as she stepped
through