Chapter 161: Packing Up

One by one, the plane’s remaining passengers emerged from the broken machine, their faces immediately hit by arid hot air and seeing only desolate sand dunes around them.

The more they saw, the more hopeless they felt. They almost forgot about the pain in their bodies, except a moment later the stress piled up, and some broke down directly.

"Get important luggage only. No matter what, assume that no one would help you carry them."

At this, they were reminded that they had to go, but some of them, seeing the endless desert and the painful sand, suddenly felt reluctant to move. Even if the plane was broken, it was still a cover. Out there... they had nothing.

Those whose luggage was overhead and intact took them, but others needed to go to the check-in area. Sadly, the plane was damaged during its descent, hitting a large rock, so a good portion of the luggage in check-in—among other things—had been lost nearby.

For those items, they might have to venture out on nearby sands in hopes of finding some luggage that had fallen down. It had not been too long since they fell, so it should not have been buried too deeply in the sand. This was especially applicable for those who did not have much baggage left.

People opened up the unclaimed baggage around them first, taking the items they could use, including toiletries, food, and so on.

They all headed to the luggage area, which was mostly intact, though a lot of the surviving luggage had opened up or even cracked due to the impact.

Some also went to the pets area. Unsurprisingly, some of them had also perished due to the sheer magnitude.

Soon, the cries from those who not only lost their families but also their pets added to the already prevalent sobs around them.

Some didn’t bring much, and everything they brought was mostly in handheld luggage.

For example, Elias, whose luggage was half composed of kids’ items.

Elias went out, carrying Evie in his arms. The soft baby hand touched his face. "Daddy, when we see Gamma en gampa?"

"I miss gamma’s mango tart."

"I miss gampa’s joos."

They were heading to his late wife’s parents. His wife died giving birth to their daughter, and since he had to work, the baby had to spend a lot of time with her grandparents.

They were heading home to them. But...what could he say? He pretty much watched the whole city get destroyed?

"Hmn," was all he said, but he ended up silently embracing the child, unsure how to tell her that they were the only two people left in the family.

...

They gathered their important luggage and prepared for a long trip ahead. Helios shook his head. Obviously, they were crossing the desert, yet these people consciously chose to add burden on themselves.

People with pets gathered their animals, though sadly half had died due to the impact.

"Unexpectedly, while people were handling their luggage like this, they heard a commotion in the baggage area. "NO! WHY!?"

It was a young man, sobbing, embracing the dead dog in his arms. "Stop it grandpa! I can never eat Cookie! How could you?!" the lad asked, genuinely shocked by the offer.

"Look around you! Where would we get meat?" The food portion had already flown with most of the cabin crew. Although the gap between landing and them flying out was just a second or two, the speed of an airplane was not low, and that was easily hundreds of meters away.

It had been an hour since then; those people and the food would’ve been swallowed by the sand already.

Their trip was at least half a day on foot, but that was straight-line distance and without accidents. Their weak group of people through the desert was bound to have an accident.

They needed sustenance.

The old people had gone through wars and famine. They simply were not as sentimental as the younger generation.

The lad refused and ran away with the dead dog, burying it in the sand instead. The old man sighed and shook his head, looking at the other dead or dying pets instead.

Other places had a lot of arguments as well. Some made sense, while others were sentimental but impractical.

"Are we just going to leave our family’s corpses like this?"

"Where do you want to bury them? Isn’t it all just sand?"

"It’s better than letting them rot inside the chunk of metal, right!?"

Other arguments, on the other hand, were just confusing.

"HEY! That is my luggage!"

"No, that’s mine!"

"BITCH! THAT’S BRANDED!"

"THAT’S MINE!"

And there were also arguments that quickly led to physical violence. "DAMN YOU!"

"STOP IT!"

"Your bag hit his face; that’s why his neck broke! KYAAAA!!"

Apparently, one person witnessed her lover die because of flying luggage. When she saw who took it, she immediately went berserk.

Helios rubbed his forehead. He was willing to step back and let someone else lead, but so far people did not care about what they had to do, so he had no choice but to do so.

He decided to give the choice to others. "I will head out in half an hour," he said. "Do what you want. You can bury your dead, look for more luggage, and so on. You can also decide whether to come with me at all."

He was responsible, but this burden was too heavy. It was better to let them decide their own fates.

...

In the end, many people who were with others opted to bury their families and friends. Many pets’ owners also perished, so many of them were either left behind or taken and smoked for a later meal.

Three hundred passengers went through Flight Z322 that day. So far, now that everyone supposedly got off the broken plane, the headcount was just above a hundred.

There were also three surviving pets. Two dogs, one cat.

The number was abysmal, but life had to go on.

They all looked at the vast desert in front of them, feeling heavy in their gut. "Let’s go."