The impact is devastating.
The long, metallic screech of the engines is terrifying. It sounds like two locomotives smashed nose to nose.
I get ripped clean off my seat. My belt tears like a rag and I slam hard into the seatback in front of me. My life vest pops open like a tractor tire. The noise deafens me.
So I'm going to die. I figured I'd die.
Before I pass out, I hear the water rushing in like crazy.
I don't know how long it takes before I come to, but I almost inhale water instead of air.
I freak the hell out. I thrash at the water and I get the feeling I don't know where "up" is and where "down" is anymore.
Is this death? Shit! It's terrifying!
Around me, luggage and clothes float. I feel a suitcase slam into my chest, scraping hard along my arms. Which way am I supposed to swim? I open my eyes and see the water around me isn't blue at all--it's pink. Or maybe light red. What the hell is this now?
A few air bubbles slip out of my mouth. I follow them with my eyes. Aha, that's "up." I grab the seats and follow the bubbles. In less than five seconds I break the surface. About damn time.
I scream and suck in a huge breath of air. I almost croak. One more second and...
I look around and try to get my bearings. Then I realize I'm still back at the tail of the seaplane. An air pocket formed back here. That's why we're floating.
"Where's the idiot who said these pieces of shit are made to float?" I roar, furious. "Show yourself, Kraut! I feel like today's the last day of your life. I can feel it!"
And I feel something else too. The rocking of the waves. I turn and end up face to face with the girl. She's alive, but she's got the most terrified eyes I've ever seen in my life. Mine probably look the same.
"We're tail-up!" I yell. "We have to get out of here, now!"
She's mute. Maybe she's deaf too. I lean right up to her ear and scream, "Get out! Raus! Otherwise we die in here!"
I try to pull her by the arm. She kicks at me and shoves me as far away as she can.
"I can't swim!" she screams.
I stare at her for a second and size it up. Clear.
"Tough luck," I whisper. "Be well. I'm gone."
I pull in as much air as my smoker's lungs will allow, then I dive. The light coming through the windows helps me orient myself.
At about three meters down, I recognize Jean--Louis floating among the seats. His purple face seems to stare at me and that catches me off guard. I can't control myself anymore. I scream underwater and bubbles slide along my cheeks.
I shoot back to the tail. Air, I want air! Eva's still there, but I don't pay her any attention anymore. To me she's as good as dead. I suck in a deep breath and dive again.
This time I've got more courage and I manage to pass the Frenchman's corpse without freaking out, then I reach the seat where the doctor is strapped in.
Oh God. The poor bastard doesn't have a head anymore. The whole left wall is shredded like a gigantic blade went through and sheared everything off. I see a big hole in the fuselage, right where the left wing should've been. The hole is so big a man could step through it upright without even ducking. It's obvious what happened. When the left wing snapped, the engine slammed into the fuselage and the propeller cut through everything in its path. The doctor was on the left side. In its path. That's why the water is pink.
I leave him behind and get out of the wreck through the hole. I hit the surface immediately. The sight makes me shiver with horror. Water. Just water. The swell lifts me and drops me.
God in heaven, the Pacific is huge! Foamy waves everywhere and nothing else. I look back. Behind me there's not much to see either.
The tail is sticking out of the water no higher than an arm. Far away from us, floating and bobbing on the waves, I can see a pontoon. The pontoons went to hell. Both of them.
"Fine, Lord!" I scream at the top of my lungs. "Very fine! You got me in the end. You're the greatest! But at least help me swim to that pontoon!"
A wave slams into my mouth. I spit and flail. I fight my way maybe twenty meters toward the pontoon, but then I realize with shock that my life vest isn't helping me at all. It's split in two. It's in the way.
How can I be this stupid! The doctor had a vest on, didn't he? Why didn't I take his vest? I'm going back right now to get it. What the hell does he need it for? Usually people without heads don't need life vests.
I force myself with everything I've got to reach the wreck again. The current pushed it farther away. The swell bounces it up and down. I barely manage to get to it, but getting back inside is even harder.
I'm choking. I'm inside, but my arms are shot. I get to the tail, take a deep breath, and I notice in horror the air pocket is smaller. The girl's face is pure terror. There's nothing in her black eyes but fear. She finally understood the craft is sinking. It's packed full of water and the engine on the right wing is dragging us down.
"Eva!" I shout. "We're sinking! We're going down any second. You have to get out of here!"
She looks at me like a cornered animal. There's nothing human in that stare. If I got close, she'd probably bite my face off. I have to leave her alone.
No time. If this damn thing is still floating, it's only because of the air pocket in the tail. But it won't last. Maybe a minute.
I abandon the girl again and dive to look for the doctor. I find him fast. A small jet of blood is still spurting from his torn throat. It dyes everything around him.
I rip his vest open fast and yank it over... over his head. So to speak.
I get back to the tail. The air's poison. I'm choking. I have to move fast. Seconds matter. I can feel it--I'm not going to die today! Eva watches me rip off my cracked vest and strap on the other one.
I glance at her. She's got a vest too. I decide all of a sudden and yell, "Come on! Out, now!"
"Nein!" she screams.
"The doctor is dead. Come on, Eva! Come on!"
"Nein!" she screams, terrified.
There's no one to talk to. Her nerves are wrecked. I think I'm going to lose it too, real soon. I make one last attempt.
"You see this red water?"
Eva stares at me.
"Girl!" I roar. "Wake up! You see this red soup?"
"What do you want?" she shrieks. "Leave me alone!"
She clings for dear life to a hook in the wall.
"In a minute this whole place will be swarming with shark fins!" I scream into her ear.
"Nein!"
"Yes!" I scream. "This soup is a dinner invitation. Every creature in the ocean is going to say 'Present!' We have to get away. I'll get you out! I'll help you! Come on!"
"Nein!"
Goddamn it! Enough talking. I reach out and grab her by the hair. She lets go of the hook and grabs a seat in panic. I try to pry her hands loose and she shrieks. Her nerves snapped. I drag her under with me. She jerks like a rabid animal and grabs every row of seats. I catch a foot in the mouth. You little German bitch--motherfucker! I peel one hand off the seat back, but she clamps down with the other.
Bubbles pour out of her mouth and her eyes are wide open.
I take a finger in the eye and I let her go. She slides like an eel back toward the tail of the seaplane. Goddamn you, bitch!
I pop my head back into the air pocket and snort like a seal. Eva is still here and she starts screaming.
I'm so furious I want to kill her. I grab her by the throat with my left hand and throw a hard right hook. My fist lands straight on her temple. Once, then again.
Good! She stops resisting. She's limp like a rag. I grab a fistful of her hair and drag her back under. Now it's easy. It takes me less than five seconds to get her to the surface.
A wave rolls over me. I swallow a mouthful of salt water and I lose my grip on the poor thing. I sink and grope for her blindly underwater. I find her immediately.
This time I feel around for the vest handles and yank hard on them. Poof! Eva shoots up like a crazy submarine. She's saved.
I inflate my own vest too and I get thrown up to the surface. I grab the girl by the hand and start swimming as far from the wreck as I can. I swim like a madman, like the sharks are chasing me. In less than a minute my lungs feel like they're on fire and I stop.
Eva floats next to me like a disjointed doll. Her head drifts left and right.
"You killed her," I whisper. "Bravo, boy... You might as well have left her in there. Same shit."
I turn and look in every direction. No seaplane. Nowhere.
It's gone.