Into The Lost World

Chapter 4~ An unknown Dimension.

"We survive!! All of us!! Together!!." The passengers turned to see whose words echoed so loudly and, to their surprise, it was the man who had yelled out in the plane to embrace for impact. A few recognized him while others didn't know him nor recognize him because he wasn't seated in the same section of the plane as them.

"I remember you", said one of the passengers. "Yes, I remember him too, speaking out at the airport during the commotion and on the plane before the crash", said another. A lot more of the passengers confirmed to have seen him earlier, while others were quiet because they didn't know the stranger that stood in front of them. Bane drew closer to a spot where he could be easily seen and heard. He then spoke out, "Everyone! Please, can I have your attention?!." They all got startled, and curious. The whole area became quiet. They all looked at him, waiting for him to speak.

"Thank you. Now that I have all gotten your attention, I will now introduce myself. My name is Bane Cross and this is my son, Delvin, and the brother on my side is Adams. I am a soldier and so is he. "What's with all the introduction? I thought you had something better to say", yelled a passenger. "Yes, we thought you had something to share with us that would give us hope in this perilous situation we are in", said another passenger. "Hey! All of you! Shut the hell up! And let the man speak!", screamed a passenger. It startled a lot of them, and they turned to see who it was. It was a man in his mid-forties wearing rugged jeans with designs that gave him out to be a cowboy. His name was Romero. His facial expression was intimidating, even worse as he pulled out a cigar. He had drawn a black Buffalo tattoo on both sides of his arms and had a love of hearts tattoo on his neck a bit close to his collar bone. Romero is an outstanding cowboy and had a reputation as a man who had never lost in a bull riding challenge. A skill passed down to him by his father. He was also a hunter when need be and had spent the entirety of his life living with his father in a barn. With all the experience he had, he was not a man to be messed with.

" You can go ahead sir, no one will interrupt you now", said Romero, and took out a lighter from his jeans to light up his cigar. "Alright then, listen everyone, I understand we are all scared, traumatized and confused at the present dilemma. A few of us are yet to be accounted for, along with the captain and his crew. We will need to scout the area and find out if they are alive. Right now, we need more of us and we need to stick together. Listen everyone, we are in uncharted territory. From the looks of things, as crazy as it sounds, its possible we crashed into an unknown dimension. It's unbelievable, but, there's no other way to make sense of what we all witnessed but to the reasonable conclusion that we are trapped in god knows where. Now we don't know what awaits us here on this island and further out there in the jungle, but together with our numbers we can go level the odds and survive. At least just enough time till we find a way out of here.  I believe since we were lucky enough to make it into this dimension alive, we can as much find a way out of here," said Bane.

The tension among the passengers dropped and one of the passengers stood up to ask a question. "So what do you expect us to do?", asked Scott. The passengers all fell in line with Scott's question and Bane was pleased to get positive reactions. "Well, firstly, we need to get enough sleep, so we can be at full strength tomorrow morning. Secondly, we need shelter. By tomorrow morning we are going to try and build small huts using the palm trees and bamboo plants nearby. All the men here should be willing to help us make that possible. It would make the work faster. The ladies should gather whatever useful materials or objects they can find from the luggage and bags washed ashore. That is to say, from clothes, to shoes, to provisions, to anything useful that can be used for the purpose of everyone's survival. Thirdly, a few of us will go scout the island to see if we can find any other survivors and also see if the island is safe," said Bane.

The passengers felt somewhat relieved, probably because someone had finally given them a reason to want to survive. "Sir Bane, I recommend you and Adam go search for other survivors. We, here, can pretty much build the shelters on our own. There are enough young and able men here that can help with doing that. I built shelters a long time ago in bandsville and can direct them on how to build one", said the retired officer. "Yeah, the man is right. I think it's best we both do it together. It's safer at least to avoid any unforeseen casualties in case we run into any", said Adam. Bane was quiet for a second, having deep thought about making a decision, and suddenly, he then said, "That's not a bad idea. It seems to be the best course of action. Alright..........we will move out by sunrise", said Bane. "Alright sir", replied Adam. As they both came in agreement right in front of the passengers, Romero walked up to them and said, "I am coming with you guys. We will need food and a good hunt will be enough to fill everyone's belly", he said, waiting for a response with a cigarette in between his mouth. "You hunt?", asked Bane. "Yes, it's a hobby. The name's Romero," he replied with his hands out for a handshake. "Alright Romero, we will be glad to have you with us", said Bane, and they both exchanged handshakes. 

      Somewhere in the jungle, a figure, about seven feet tall, was properly hidden in stealth mode among the leaves and trees, watching the passengers and listening in on their conversations. This entity was an alien watch guard. It was blue in complexion and possessed unique abilities. After it had gathered information about the passengers, it turned and vanished into thin air. In the midst of getting along with Bane and Adam, Romero suddenly felt they were being watched and walked past the passengers, staring at the jungle. He could feel someone was watching and could perceive a foul stench of something. Over his years of experience as a hunter, he had developed a keen sense of alert at detecting hidden presence beyond seeing eyes and could tell how close or far they were. This helped him observe his surroundings with high alert and could tell when he was being watched or followed. "Is anything the problem, Romero??", asked Adams, concerned at how he suddenly got distracted to go stare at the open jungle. Romero was silent for a few seconds before he then replied, "It's nothing. I thought I heard noise from those trees. But it seems to be a false alarm. My senses might be a little dull due to the crash. I should get enough rest before tomorrow morning. I will be staying under that tree for the night. Goodnight", said Romero. Shortly after, every single passenger was able to get a night's rest by covering themselves with the clothes and bed spreads they could find. Some volunteered to stay on watch, just as a necessary precaution. As for Bane and Adams, they slept shortly after most of the passengers had fallen asleep. 

     Morning had come and Bane, Leo and Romero were all set to head into the jungle in search of survivors and for hunting as discussed earlier at night. A group of men were selected by the retired officer who had prepared a list of what they needed to commence construction of shelters for all the passengers. "We live this in your care, officer. Please, keep everyone safe and organized. I trust this is something you can handle, yes?", asked Bane, all set and ready to go out for the search. The officer turned to take a look at the crowd and replied, "Yes, it's nothing I can't handle. I will make sure to have those shelters ready before you return." There was a moment of relief on hearing his words. Bane was leaving behind his boy, Delvin, and so he walked up to his son and gave him an arm shake. "We will be safe, you don't need to worry about us. Just make sure to use everything I taught you to protect yourself and try being of assistance to help build shelter. I hope nothing happens in my absence, but here, these are white seeds used for trailing. I want you to keep them close to you at all times. You know what to do with them, right?", asked Bane. "Yes dad, don't worry, I know exactly what to do, whatever the situation might be." Bane smiled and said, "that's my boy." Adam smiled and tapped Delvin by the shoulder "Let's go, so that we make it back on time", said Bane. Both Adam and Romero nodded in affirmation and disappeared into the jungle. 

   Meanwhile, in Landsville, the news report about Lane Airline, en route to Mera city, had spread like wildfire over every social media platform. Families of the victims of the plane crash are seen storming the airport in weary protest at the information regarding their loved ones and friends who were passengers of the plane crash. Damage control measures were taken abruptly by the airline's management team to ensure they controlled the news and information that would be damaging to the Airlines' reputation while they discussed behind doors possible measures to locate the site of the crash and send in a rescue team. They traced all communications to the time they lost contact with the captain. Their well-sophisticated technologies couldn't pinpoint the site on their radar system of where the plane was set to have crashed. It was strange and beyond explanation or logical calculations. So the airline management team had no choice but to give a possible hopeful speech about doing every possible thing to ensure they brought home the passengers. Still, it did not do any good to the families of the passengers. Their hearts were broken by the thought of their loved ones being either dead or alive. It was a living nightmare for many and that caused a lot of public outrage and commotion. In the end, the government had no choice but to get involved. The army was present at the site with a few hundred soldiers standing in defense of the site. A big shot of the army from the pentagon was escorted into the building. The whole site was swarming with soldiers not accounted for as a group of highly trained soldiers escorted him to the Airlines meeting room. His steps and aura were intimidating and, as such, left every civilian in the building in a sense of awe. This man in question was none other than General Phil Cross, father to Bane and grandfather to Delvin. He stormed into the meeting room and everyone seated stood up in awe and respect for the General.

"Who's in charge?!", asked the General. A man in his mid-forties raised his hand affirming his position as the man in charge. The General walked to him and paused for a moment, staring at him in an undermining way. "Your in charge?!", he asked, as his bar-toned voice echoed through the room. The manager of the airline stood silent for seconds, in total fear and inferiority. His name was Mister Damon. "Cat caught your tongue, huh! Can't you speak?!", the General yelled.

"My apologies General, I........ I lost my composure. My name is Mister Damon, and I am in charge of this airline. "Good! Now tell me, Mister Damon, what's the status of the plane crash?? I heard it mysteriously disappeared. Is that true?? ", he asked, waiting for a quick response as he stared into the eyes of Mister Damon. Without hesitating, he gave a full report of the situation and how the incident went beyond every possible explanation. "Hmm....... Do you have the last radio contact with the plane before it mysteriously disappeared?? If you do, I want to listen to it right now in full speaker", said the General. "Yes I do and even better, a short video from one of my cameras installed outside the plane. They are both a bit scrambled, but we can still make out the images of the video recording and voice recording with the help of my technicians", said Mister Damon.

The general grabbed a seat and sat down. He then turned to his men and said, "Shut the doors, boys!" They responded with a loud "Yes sir!", and shut the doors immediately. The general turned and looked at the manager and said, "play it now, I want to listen to the voice recording and the video recording as well" Without hesitating, Mister Damon signaled his team of technicians and had the recording of the last radio communications rolling. In between all the screeching sounds, the co-pilot's voice was heard requesting directions and stating the level of emergency. As the recording was about to stop, another voice within the recording was heard.

"Stop there! Now increase the audio of that other voice in particular", the General ordered. The team of technicians worked their magic and within a few seconds they had the other voice in the recording amplified. "It's ready sir", said the leading technician. "Good! Play it", said the General. Immediately, they had the audio rolling.

"Everyone!! Embrace for impact!! Embrace for impact!! Now!!", said the unknown voice within the recording. There was absolute silence in the room and the General stood up with an expression of relief. His men made similar expressions as they smiled at each other. "That's my son's voice, and he's definitely alive", said the General. And after a few seconds, the manager played the video recording next, and they all saw in a glimpse, a large vortex pulled the plane in and suddenly, the cameras gets scrambled.