“Oh lord, I’ve had enough of these people out here.”

The captain glanced out of the window, the bleak grassland and the desserts nearby appeared in his vision through the fissures of the clouds, then told his crew in the cockpit of this IL-76 circling over the airport.

“My holidays in Maldives! Seating in their air-conditionered offices comfortably, while sending us to this place full of upheavals and turmoil?!”

“You did accept that allowance from the company, right? That’s by no means a negligible amount!” Said the second captain seated on the right seat, where usually seats the first officer.

“Yes, but afterall, they didn’t tell me that we are heading there! I mean, if I know that…”

“Here is the newest METAR released by the airport, the weather seems to be good! At least for the next hour, I think we shall start our descent right now so that we won’t suffer from the thunderstorm that is brewing!” The second captain interrupted him.

The engine constantly rumbled, with the flap fully extended, landing gears checked down, the plane flew towards the runway with a somewhat much higher altitude than it should. All of a sudden, the captain pushed the yoke, retrieved the throttle, and the plane immediately fell into a dive. The runway loomed toward the crew, the landing marks left by the previous planes became increasingly clear and prominent. The captain pulled the yoke back, and the attitude of the plane became level almost immediately, expertly accomplishing this approach to avoid the “portable air defense system” on the ground.

Taxiing out of the runway, the crew noticed something weird. There were a few other IL-76s parked in a line at the taxiway parallel to the runway, with their rear cargo doors fully opened, the armored vehicles were driven into the cargo bay one by one quickly and orderly. On the other side of the planes, soldiers stood in neat groups, seemingly awaiting boarding. But on the apron not far away, two passenger planes were engulfed in flames. Just at that moment, a Ka-52 attack helicopter roared over their head, following its trajectory, the crew of this IL-76 saw dreadful sights that even made them more frightened and confused. Endless people almost surrounded the airport, yet they were only separated by a few wire mesh fences. Behind them, flares lit the skies of the nearby city, whereas, just behind the city, the thunderstorm-like clouds shrouded the sky, just like the canopies of the trees in the amazon rain forest.

“It’s strange, thunderstorms aren’t common here, and those people…” Said the captain, shutting down the engines after parking this IL-76 at the end of the que. “No worries, the fences are electrified, they can’t get in” Said the second captain. At the same time, the cargo crew opened the rear cargo door. After having a brief talk with the officer, he headed back to the forward as what the officer asked, and the army started loading the plane. Simultaneously in the cockpit, the captain noticed that the IL-76s at the forward of the queue started to retract their rear cargo doors. Then, the rudder and the ailerons of the plane moved, followed by the flaps being deployed as the engine sound became increasingly clear. The captain looked around, less and less soldiers and vehicles were still on the ground, while the number of people outside of the airport didn’t go down. A sense of unease rose in the captain’s mind. “Candid 03, 05, 07, clear to taxi to runway 24 in sequence, via B1, A1, contact tower at 118 decimal 7 when ready for departure.” the voice of the airport ground comforted the captain, ‘At least, the tower and ground are still here…’

Half an hour passed, and the army still hadn’t finished loading the plane. The feeling of unease intensified in the cockpit. Some IL-76s have already taken off, the rest of the other two IL–76s are moving toward the runway, leaving them, a few armored vehicles and a single Mi-171 helicopter behind. The captain glanced at the city, that thunderstorm-like clouds were closer to them than before, lightning could also be easily seen. There also seemed to be some dark figures moving in the clouds, but that didn’t capture anybody’s attention, thinking that it was just some abnormal climate conditions. Just then, the two IL-76 roared one by one on the runway, the sound by the engines then became fainter and fainter, eventually vanishing. The cockpit sank into a deathly silence, everybody was waiting for a taxi-and-take off clearance. Suddenly, an explosion broke the silence, and the control tower near the terminal collapsed in a blaze. Debris and fragments from the collapsing tower flew out in all directions, with some successfully damaging the wire mesh fences surrounding the airport, making a small gap in the first two fences. The rest smashed the transformer station below the tower. The hope of getting into the airport was suddenly ignited among the people outside, they swarmed toward the gap, almost smashing the last fence.

“Start the engines. We shall not wait!” The captain commanded almost immediately. He glanced at the camera screen of the cargo bay, only seeing bags about the length of a human being laid on the ground, a huge unknown container fixed to the floor with rope in the center of the cargo hold, the rest of the soldiers seated at the sides of the cargo bay. “Engine number one is working” “Tell them to retract that door!” “Roger that, shall we taxi, Captain?” “Start engine number four, then release the parking brake, we taxi toward the runway while starting the rest!” “Hopefully, we could get that done before those people and that storm…” The captain complemented, realizing something.

The wheels started to roll, with the engine rumbling, the plane moved forward. The visibility wasn’t well, the airport was already engulfed in a haze. The white light beam from the taxi and landinglights of the plane penetrated the fog, shining on the crowd outside the airport. “It’s hope! There is another plane!” yelled somebody. Just when the plane entered and aligned with the runway, the last fence separating the crowd and the plane collapsed. People swarmed into the airport, running toward the IL-76, waving their hands, yelling, hoping the plane could stop and take them away from this terrifying place.

“TOGA!” the captain ordered, after the engine Run-up procedure was completed. The four D-30KP engines burst into a roar, the plane speeded up along the runway, leaving the people behind. 40 seconds later, with the landing gear leaving the ground, this IL-76 headed into the fog, becoming more and more obscure, eventually disappearing from the people’s vision.

The captain turned his head, took a last look at the airport, the crowd seemed to be moving in every direction, some dark figures in the edge of the storm dimly appeared. That Mi-171 on the ground had its rotor blades spinning at full speed, seemingly prepared for an imminent take off. Some scattered dots are moving toward the helicopter simultaneously. ‘Wish them good luck, afterall, I have had enough of those people out there’ thought the captain, turning his head back, looking in the direction of his home.