The plane's cabin reeked of sweat, gun oil, and the sharp metallic tang of fresh blood. We'd stumbled aboard in a daze - Zayn clutching his bleeding side, Aaron's hands shaking violently, Insha's eyes wide with unspoken terror. I collapsed into the canvas jumpseat, my fingers leaving red smears on the harness buckles. The soldiers had stopped checking for bites. Now they just counted heads like cattle to slaughter.
"Shanghai in six hours," the crew chief barked as the engines whined to life. "Piss in the bags, bleed in the towels, and don't even think about moving." His flashlight beam caught the dark streaks beneath Insha's fingernails. "Especially you."
The hatch sealed with a hydraulic hiss, cutting off the terminal's dying screams. For the first time in days, we weren't running. Just strapped in a metal coffin hurtling toward dawn.
Then the drops began.
Black. Thick. Dripping from the air vents like molasses.
The soldier nearest me noticed first. His rifle clattered to the deck as he clawed at his neck where the fluid had landed. Veins bulged beneath his skin, branching like dark lightning across his throat.
"Contamination in the cabin!" someone shouted.
Chaos erupted. A medic tore open an emergency kit as the infected soldier's jaw unhinged with a wet crack. The co-pilot burst from the cockpit, his flight suit soaked in the same inky fluid.
"It's in the systems!" he gurgled before collapsing.
The plane banked violently. Through the porthole, I watched the left engine cough black smoke. The jungle below didn't look like China. The things moving between the trees stood too tall, their limbs bending all wrong.
Captain Wang's final transmission cut through the screams:
"Mayday Mayday. Flight Two-Zeta replicating outbreak. Initiating crash protocol."
The altimeter screamed its descent. Insha's hand found mine as the vents rained black tears. Zayn murmured what might've been a prayer. Aaron just laughed, high and broken, as the treetops rushed up to meet us.
We'd survived the airport.
We'd made the last flight.
Now the real nightmare began