Alan slowly wakes up from his sleep and looks at the time on his screen, it’s 11:34am. He’s been asleep for an hour and a half. His eyes slowly adjust to the brightness, he realises that the rest of the passengers are eating. The stewardess that he talked to is walking up his aisle, she can see that Alan is awake.

“Would you like some food now then?” she asks

“I guess so, what’s on the menu?” Alan replies.

“Your menu is in front of you, in the pocket you can see underneath your screen. I’ll go tell one of the crew members too come and serve you.”

“Thank you.”

She walks off without another word and goes too see the rest of the crew. Alan looks down at the pocket in front of him and see’s that there is indeed a menu in front of him.

Alan picks it up and skims through to the snack section. There is not much too pick from, so he decides on a lemonade and a croissant with ham and cheese. One of the crew members come to take his order and he gets his food. Alan adjusts his seat to the normal upright position and gazes out of the window. They seem to be going over Syria at the moment. Alan takes a bite of his food and can feel energy coming back to him. It feels good to eat when your starving, thinks Alan to himself.  Gazing closer out of the window Alan can see a small village from above, but it looks tiny. But something flickers in the distance. A light of some sort, it is reflecting off the sun. Alan looks down at his food and realises he has already eaten, but he still hasn’t opened his lemonade yet. He picks it up and feels that it is icy cold, which he enjoys. Opens the can and takes a sip of the rich liquid. He hasn’t had lemonade in years he remembers. The light flickers again, but he sees that somehow it has got closer by the second. Before he can take another sip, Alan realises that a missile is coming straight towards the plane.

“Shi-“

Before he even says anything, the plane explodes. The sound is the loudest thing that could ever be heard. It has hit the middle of the plane and it has already broken in half. People a frantic and screaming. They are getting flung out of the plane, people who were without there seatbelts are trying to grab on to something to stop them from going out. But the speed of the plane falling is just too much. Alan closes his eyes and just hopes a miracle can save him. He braces for impact and can feel himself drifting off into unconsciousness. He takes one last breath, everything goes black.

                                                             ***

“Ahh”

Alan jumps up and blinks, his face feels like it has been scratched by a lion. It stings so bad. His lips are dry, and his cheeks are hot. Alan slowly tries to see what’s around him and he see’s that he is still in his seat and his seatbelt had saved his life. At least he remembered something as a child. His eyes start to focus but is still very bright. Alan takes off his seatbelt and stands up. He walks out of his seat and walks on to sand. They have crashed in a desert. He can only see that he is the only one alive. A sound comes behind him, coughing. Alan tries to run to the sound but trips and falls onto the ground. His legs feel like they have been ripped off. Alan stands back up and slowly limps to the sound and can see that there is a man lying on the ground in his seat. It takes him a few moments, but Alan realizes that it is the man from the plane that he glanced at. Somehow, he has survived as well. Alan see’s that he is trying to say something. He crouches on his knees and talks to him.

“Yes, what is it.” Alan asks.

“Y…yo…you” he tries to say.

Alan looks at him in the eyes and see that he is in pain as well.

“Where is it hurting mate?”

The man looks around on the ground and then stares back at Alan.

“You going to help me up or not?”

Alan is surprised that was what he was trying to say and grabs the chair. He lifts it up and then tries to take off the man’s seatbelt.

“Don’t worry, I can do that myself.” He says.

The man has a calm, loud voice and it is British. It seems to be a southern British accent. The man stands up and looks around him. Alan does the same, only dunes and rocks as far as his eye can see. No one or no animals are making any sound, just silence.

“My name is Thomas by the way, we seem to have crashed in a desert, I’m thinking somewhere in Saudi Arabia at the moment.

Gee, he talks a lot, Alan thinks to himself.

“My name’s Alan. It is nice to meet you on this fine morning in the desert. Do you think we should look around the wreckage and find any more survivors?”

“I don’t think we will find any.” Thomas is pointing in front of him, Alan can see that he is pointing at the rest of the chairs. Every single person that were on the plane are not in their seats, there are only a few and they do not look alive.

Alan starts walking to the end of the wreckage and finds a place to sit in the shade. Thomas follows him and sits down in front of him.

“I reckon we should start taking what we can to survive.” Says Thomas looking back at Alan.

“I think we should find the stuff, then find bags and then get the hell out of this place. We were shot down by a missile, and the people who shot us down will be heading towards us to see if they have any survivors to take hostage.” Replies Alan.

“What do you mean hostages?” asks Thomas.

“What I mean is, that I think we were shot down by terrorists, have to be ISIS or Al Quader if they have that sort of artillery.” Alan replies again.

Alan stands up and walks out of the shade.

“Where are you going?” Asks Thomas.

“I’m going to find bags and general stuff, like knifes and maps, you know, so we can survive.” Alans says.

“I’ll find some food then, we were at the back of the plane, so that is usually where all the food is kept.” Replies Thomas

“Alright then, meet back here after 15 mins. And bring what you can.”

Alan walks out into the heat of the day and goes too where all the seats are, he can see that there are bags all over the place behind the plane, he walks over and finds 2 hiking bag’s and 3 normal carry bags. The rest are suitcases and duffel bags. He empty’s the bags onto the sand and moves away the clothes. Alan sees that whoever this person was, has brought quite a few maps. He looks through them and finds a map of middle east and Syria. He walks around the rest of the plane collecting what he can. He looks at his watch and starts walking back to there meeting place.

“I have found, water, protein bars, meals in tin foil and other snacks.” Thomas says to Alan as he walks in.

He sure has, a lot of them Alan thinks to himself. All the food is scattered and sorted into groups on the ground.

“I found 2 hiking bags for both of us and 1 other bag if we need it. I have also found maps of the Middle east and Syria as I think that is where we are. I have also found 2 knifes, torches, a flare gun and rope if we need that.” Alan says.

“Give me the map, I can read them.” Thomas says to Alan.

“How can you read them?” Alan asks in interest.

Thomas sighs and look down at the ground. He looks out the plane into the ibis and then stares back up at Alan.

“I was the navigator in my squadron in the SAS.”

I knew it, Alan thinks. He could tell on the plane he was in the forces. But the SAS?

“Were you now, well that’s very helpful I think, here you go then.” Alan hands Thomas the maps and then stares back at Thomas. The SAS, he thinks to himself, out off all the forces it’s the SAS.

“I know you are in the forces as well Alan, but which one may I ask?”

“You’ll have heaps of time to here about my story when we are walking mate, not now, we are wasting time.” Alan says firmly, but not in any aggression.

“Well the thing is, I have already found out where we are stranded, and our location, which I am sure about. I think we are stranded in the Syrian Desert, here.” Thomas points at the map and Alan walks towards him. Looks down and can see that he is pointing in the top right corner of the map and they seem to be very much far away from civilisation.

“That is not good.” Alan says.

“No that is not good at all, we are 100’s of klicks away from any village, we are very much, stranded.”

“We need to get going now I guess, I’ll pack my bag and you can pack yours. I can see that you have sorted out who’s food is what equally.” Alan say to Thomas handing him a bag. Alan packs his food and the half of the things he found and then gives the other half to Thomas.

“That’s yours, look after it.” Alan says.

“Thanks.” Replies Thomas.

After packing both bags they get clothes from around the plane and blankets to keep warm, as the nights in the desert are very cold. Alan changes clothes to working pants and a sweatshirt and changes his air Jordan’s to some hiking boot’s he has found. He throws away the Jordan’s and then put’s the bag on his back. He picks up the knife he has found, which is a very sharp, short bladed carving knife. He hands the other one too Thomas.

“What’s this for?” Thomas asks taking the knife.

“It’s for defence, if you need it, which hopefully you won’t, also to help you survive.” Replies Alan.   

Alan walks out of the plane and goes to a clear wall of the plane. He carves, 2 survivors, heading North.  Then puts the knife in his side pocket. Thomas walks out of the plane as well and looks at the carving Alan has made.

“Let’s hope terrorists can’t read ay.”

Alan gives a chuckle and then looks north. He has changed into a sweatshirt and working pants well, but he has found combat boots. Thomas see’s that Alan is looking at his shoes.

“I found my bag that I was carrying, pretty lucky I think.”

“Very lucky.” Replies Alan.

They both look back at the plane and start walking North.

Alan and Thomas have been walking for three hours. The sun is blazing hot but is slowly starting to go down. Still the desert is filled with silence, but sometimes the wind moves and creates a nice sound.

“ So, what is your backstory may I ask Alan?” says Thomas looking at Alan.

Alan sighs, then looks back at Thomas and gives a soft chuckle.

“Why are you so interested in my past Thomas, if I tell you mine, you should tell me yours, I’d love to hear it.” Replies Alan.

“Deal, but you go first.”

“Where should I start then. I decided to join the British Army after I graduated from High School, I was only eighteen years old, and I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. My grades were good, my life wasn’t bad, but I was bored. I wanted a bit of adventure. My grandfather was in the 2nd world war as a Commando. My uncle was an infantry soldier and only served for five years. But he died in an operation at Iraq. I decided to follow both their footsteps, but my father was not happy. He had already lost a brother, he didn’t want to lose his own son. My father never even thought of being in the forces. He is way too smart I think. He’s a professor at Oxford University, for astrophysics.

Alan looks at Thomas and see’s that he is listening very carefully.

“Your taking this all in?” asks Alan.

“Yes, I am, keep talking.” Replies Thomas with a smile.

“I joined the army and just decided to do the usual and be a soldier. I served with them for three years, but my captains kept telling me I was too good for this, and I should move on to special operations. So, applied for the Para troops and served with them for six years. I did ops in, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Brazil and some more here in Middle east. But then I was discharged.

“What for?” Thomas asks.

“That’s none of your business, I’ll tell you another day. After that I moved to bodyguarding services for VIP’s, like celebrities and military commanders. That’s why I was in Djibouti. Now, what’s your story?”

“Well, I am fairly the same. I graduated from high school and went to University for two years, studying English Literature, I was starting to get really bored through Uni, so I wanted a challenge. I moved to UK, because I was originally born in Dublin, but only lived there for twenty years.”

“I can still hear a bit of Irish in that accent” says Alan.

“Yes, you probably can still. I moved to UK and decided to live in Chelsea for a bit. I applied for the British Army and was a soldier as well for two years, but then I wanted a bigger challenge. I moved to special operations and moved to the SAS. I applied for them and joined the 21st regiment. I then later moved to Hereford and tried the selection course for the 22nd regiment. But I never made it through, I tried twice and gave up. But then I stayed in the 21st regiment and served with them for four years. Then I moved back to Manchester and that’s when I met Jessica, my wife. But all of a sudden, I got a call on the phone. MI6 wanted me to join them. Said they’ve been watching me. I had no idea why, but I joined them and have been working with them for seven years.

“Wait, MI6?” Alan asks in confusion.

“That’s what I said, MI6.” Replies Thomas.

“I thought agents aren’t meant to tell anyone their identity.” Alan says staring at Thomas.

“Well it’s kind of hard when your walking in the desert, with one person, talking about your life. I trust you, don’t worry.” Thomas replies.

“Well, carry on then.” Alan says.

“ Well that’s really it. I have a wife now, and three gorgeous kids. One boy, Jason he is eleven. Two daughters, Sarah and Amy. Sarah is seven and Amy is nine. We live in Manchester together.”

“What were you doing in Djibouti?” Alan asks.

“I was doing services for MI6, finding a man who has been selling arms and drugs to the ISIS, I had to bring him down.”

“And did you?”

“Yeah we did, that’s why I was going back to UK, I would have to stay until I finish.” Replies Thomas.

Walking through the dunes the sun slowly starts to set and the air is already getting colder. Alan and Thomas both glance up at the sun and decide to set up camp. They’ve been walking for ages. Alan points over 10m ahead of him and they both walk over and take off their bags. Alan takes out his blanket and gets out his warm clothes. Changes into them, then lays down. Alan looks over and see’s that Thomas is already asleep. Alan looks back up at the stars, then turns to his side and closes his eyes. 5 mins later, he is asleep.

                                                                ****

 Alan wakes up to the sun on his face. It feels nice, the sun is still rising as well. He sits up and takes his jacket off. Looks to his right and see’s that Thomas is gone. But all his stuff is still here, only his blanket is packed up. Alan stands up and looks around. Nothing. Where could he have gone?

“Thomas! Can you hear me?” Alan yells. Silence.

If he went to the toilet, he would’ve gone in the night or brought the toilet paper, which he can see in his bag. Alan looks around and see’s footprints in the sand. Thomas’s footprints, and they are leading behind the bags. He follow’s the prints and see’s Thomas thirty meters in front of him. He is lying on his belly looking out into the distance with binoculars. Alan jogs up to him.

“Thomas, what are you doing?” Alan asks.

“Shhhhhh, be quiet, and get down here.” Whispers Thomas. Thomas is pointing beside him. Alan crouches down and lays next to him. Thomas hands Alan the binoculars.

“Look ahead, I heard them just as I woke up, they were quite loud” Thomas says.

Looking through the binoculars, Alan can see two land rovers going east. One has a machine gun on top of the roof and the other has a launcher for missiles, but none inside it. Both vehicle’s have three men inside them each. They all have long beards and burkas around them. All of them look middle eastern.

“Crap, it’s them. The one’s who shot down the airplane, looks like they haven’t found anything.” Alan says handing back the binoculars.

“We should follow them. Follow there tracks to wherever it leads, if they stop, we think of a plan to take one of the vehicles.” Thomas replies.

“We have to quickly pack up now then. Change clothes and start following them.”

Without another word, both of them jump up and run back to camp. They pack up everything, change their clothes into their cargo pants and t-shirts. Strap on their bags and make sure they leave nothing behind. Both of them turn around and start jogging through the dunes to where they saw the vehicle. It seems to be at least 500m away so it’s only a quick, fast jog. Alan arrives first, a few seconds later, Thomas is beside him.

Thomas takes off his bag, but keeps a fast-paced walk, he takes out one of the water bottles and takes a mouthful. He hands it too Alan who takes it and also drinks a mouthful. 

“That’s one out of ten bottles, we have nine left now. We’ll have to ration them.” Alan says handing Thomas back the bottle. Thomas adjusts his bag back and then tells Alan.

“By the way, I have never even heard of you, even if we served in the same forces.” Thomas says.

“Same here, I don’t think I have ever heard of you as well.”

Thomas keeps walking. But Alan slows down. He can hear something, voices. Alan looks to his left and can see that there is a sand dune in front of him. He crouches down and slowly walk up to it.

“What’s up, Alan?” Thomas asks.

Alan doesn’t answer but only puts a finger to his mouth and signals him to follow him. Thomas nods and comes up beside him, crouching as well. They both slowly walk up the dune and then lie down into an army crawl. Both of them start to slow down. They get to the top and look over the hill. Six men are in a circle chatting to each other, all of them smoking. There weapons, which are all AK-47’s are beside them. The two land rovers are parked behind them. Alan looks too Thomas.

“I’ve got a plan.”

“What is it?” asks Thomas.

“We both split directions, you go right, I’ll go left. We circle around to the land rover with the machine gun. As you can see all windows are open. You climb through the back, I’ll climb through the driver’s side. After that, I’ll hotwire the car, and we get the hell out of there.”

“Sounds good.” replies Thomas.

Both of them nod and bump fists. Thomas goes the right, while Alan takes the left. Lucky for them, the terrorists have chosen an area that is circled by sand dunes. Which give Alan and Thomas chances of not being seen.

Alan is only five meters away from the vehicle. Lucky for him, the driver’s side is in front of them. Alan stands up but keeps crouching. He runs towards the car and sits down. No one has seen him. He stands up and jumps through the window in silence. He sits in the driver’s seat and open’s the box beside the steering wheel. His right hand goes into his side pocket and he pulls out the carving knife. Still no one has seen him. Alan cuts the red and yellow wires and looks behind him. Thomas is crawling through the back window. He comes in, with silence and nods at Alan.

“Hit it.” Thomas whispers.

Alan nods, brings the two wires together, once, twice and the car starts. Alan quickly sits back up and pushes down the accelerator full. All the terrorist’s leap up and quickly try to get their guns. They all fire clumsily at the car. None of the bullets hit. Alan switches the car to third gear and keeps his foot down full on the accelerator.

“You know your stuff” Thomas says.

“What do you mean?” Alan replies as Thomas jumps into the front seat.

“With the hotwire and getting us out of there.” Thomas says.

“Oh that, well I can drive or fly any vehicle. I was taught that in the Para troops and also for the bodyguarding services.”  Alan replies smiling.

“That’s very helpful then. Glad you survived the crash.” Thomas says with a chuckle. Alan laughs and looks out into the desert. Thomas look at the dashboard and checks the fuel levels.

“I think we’ll last at least 50km’s before we get empty.” Alan says looking at Thomas.

“That’s enough for us to get to a small village.” Thomas replies, remembering the map. Alan fixes that car mirror and looks out. But then looks back at the mirror.

“Crap, there already close” Alan says.

Thomas looks behind him and curses under his breath.

The second car is behind them, coming fast, with all 6 terrorists.