Chapter Text
“ Ladies and gentlemen this is your Captain speaking, we are now three hours from landing in the United States, feel free to grab a snack or drink from the flight attendants. Thank you and have a great flight.”
Tyler had just finished using the restroom and was making his way back to his seat when he heard the captain's announcement.
Twenty One Pilots had just finished doing a series of shows in Europe and they were now heading back to the U.S. to return home and do a benefit concert in a couple of days. It had been a busy week for the band and Tyler was happy to be returning home to see his family again before doing another show.
Tyler made his way down the plane aisle and sat next to Josh.
“ You okay man? ” Tyler placed his hand on Josh’s knee, Josh had always been nervous about flying.
Josh was looking pensive, staring with a flat expression at the expanse of ocean below. “Yeah, I’m fine,” Josh gave a less than reassuring smile.
Tyler could tell Josh was tense looking out of the window he saw why, the sea was a murky grey highlighted with the white froth of crashing waves.
“Don’t worry dude, it's probably just the wind we’ll be fine.”
Josh nodded but the tell-tale signs of anxiety still lingered on his face, he nervously wrung his hands as he tried to pay attention to the movie he was watching.
Then another announcement came over the intercom.
“Ladies and gentlemen we are now entering the infamous Bermuda Triangle, so keep an eye out for anything mysterious, just kidding! Thank you and have a great flight”
Tyler sighed and shook his head at the captain's attempt at humour, Josh’s mood wasn’t eased by the reminder of where they were. Josh’s love of aliens and the paranormal had given him all the reasons to be wary of the Bermuda Triangle.
The flight attendant approached the two with a carton of snacks “Can I get you guys anything?”
“ We’ll take two bags of peanuts,” Tyler nudged Josh and gave him a small bag of peanuts.
Josh gave Tyler a puzzled look “I didn’t ask for peanuts”
“I know, maybe a snack will calm your nerves” Tyler smiled.
“I told you I’m fine” Josh insisted as he took the peanuts and pocketed them.
Before Tyler could answer the entire plane jolted, Tyler and Josh froze in the seats as confused murmurs filled the cabin.
“What was that?” Josh’s face went pale, sweat was dotted on his forehead.
“It’s just turbulence, I’m sure…” Tyler tried to stay optimistic but even he wasn’t so sure. He’d been on lots of planes before and had never felt ‘turbulence’ like that before.
Tyler looked over to Josh and saw him with his eyes glued to the window, his skin was as white as a ghost.
The sky had suddenly become much darker and the turbulent waves below were now a frenzy of white froth as the ocean churned into a frenzy.
Another jolt hit the aeroplane, this one was twice as strong as the last. Bags fell out from the overhead compartment and people walking in the aisle were bowled over. Tyler was lifted out of his chair and slammed back down.
“ Tyler, what’s going on? “ Josh’s voice was gripped with panic, his voice barely audible over the sound of deep rumbling from outside.
Then a flash of lightning lit up the sky with a loud cracking sound, the plane jolted again. The murmuring of the other passengers had turned into complete panic as the flight attendants tried desperately to calm everyone down.
Then, a final announcement came over the intercom.
“This is the Captain…prepare for an emergency landing we are about to”
The announcement was cut short by another bolt of lightning as the plane began shaking and shuddering out of control.
They were going down.
Tyler didn’t hesitate, he fastened his seatbelt and turned to make sure Josh had done the same. Josh was holding onto his seat with all the strength in his body, Tyler had never seen his eyes open so wide.
They could hear the whine of wooshing air as the plane began to drop out of the sky, plummeting towards the raging sea below. All they could do was hold on for dear life and brace for impact as they hurtled towards the raging abyss below.
Tyler scrunched his eyes shut, he felt Josh’s hand on his own, squeezing him like he was a lifeline. Tyler squeezed back
Then, the plane hit the water with a deafening SLAM!
The moment the plane hit the surface of the water all lights went out, plunging the cabin into complete darkness. All hell broke loose, people were screaming and panicking as water began to flood the plane. Tyler armed with nothing but his wits and the emergency lights of the airplane jumped out of his seat and grabbed Josh by the shirt, he wasn’t leaving this plane without his friend. Josh was still in his terrified trance, it was clear he couldn't process that this was real, this was happening. Tyler screamed in his face, the water was already reaching their waists and they had no time to spare.
“Josh c’mon! We have to leave now!”
Josh snapped out of his stupor and bolted out of his seat, they two made their way down the aisle Tyler’s hand never left Josh’s shirt. The plane was in chaos, passengers were scrambling to get out of the plane by any means necessary, and the cabin was filled with the sounds of screaming and the roaring of the waters outside. Tyler and Josh had to struggle against the hordes of fleeing passengers as they made their way to the emergency exits, the water was already reaching their chests.
The storm tossed the plane about causing water to slosh around in the cabin and people to get knocked over. Tyler almost lost his footing but Josh caught him just in time, they couldn’t afford to trip up now, not when the plane was sinking deeper by the minute.
Finally, the two reached the emergency door, the moment they stuck their heads out the door they were hit with a wall of ice-cold air. The ocean was a chaotic frenzy of waves and froth as the storm raged above them, it was enough to make Tyler reconsider his next move.
A deafening crunch echoed through the air and the entire plane lurched, Tyler could see debris being washed away in the ocean.
They had no choice now, the plane was being ripped apart.
Tyler turned to his right and saw Josh, pale in the face but determined, there was no going back now.
Josh looked at Tyler and they silently agreed.
They would jump together.
Tyler held Josh’s hand in his own, squeezing it until his knuckles went white. Then with one more glance at his best friend, in case this might be the last.
Then they jumped.
Tyler felt the icy cold waters slam into him like a brick wall, he desperately struggled to keep float as the waves tossed him about. He gasped for air as he was thrown out of the water by the force of the storm.
As struggled to keep afloat he heard something in between the roaring of the wind.
“Tyler! Over here!”
It was Josh, he was barely visible in the raging ocean but Tyler could see him cling to a loose piece of the plane’s wing. Filled with determination, Tyler swam with all his might against the waves towards Josh. With one final stroke, he reached the wing and grabbed onto it, now he had a floatation device the key was to hold on for dear life as the ocean threatened to consume them.
Behind them they saw the plane split down the middle, it folded in on itself, crumpling like a piece of origami as the blackened ocean consumed it.
Tyler and Josh were alone, it was only them and the wing.
Tyler remembered staring at Josh’s pale face, illuminated by the occasional flash of lightning. Despite everything, he was glad he at least had Josh.
Tyler remembered the feeling of the waves knocking the wing about, the burn of his knuckles as he held on with all the strength he had and the feeling of Josh’s presence.
It was the last thing Tyler remembered before his memory lacked out.
____________________
“Tyler…Tyler…wake up!”
Tyler winced as his eyes blinked open, he saw a concerned-looking Josh shaking him awake. Tyler’s vision was blurry as his eyes adjusted to the light, he could feel the gentle sway of the ocean waves as he bobbed about. The sky was overcast and grey, a low mist hovered over the ocean surface.
“Wha…what…what happened?” Tyler’s head was spinning, every muscle in his body burned from exhaustion. Tyler wasn’t sure how long he’d been holding on for dear life but he felt every single second of it.
“Tyler look!” Josh pointed behind him, and Tyler blinked as his eyes adjusted themselves. After a few minutes, Tyler saw what Josh was pointing to, the faint outline of land. Tyler’s energy was reinvigorated by the promising sight of solid ground, he sprung to his elbows.
“H-How are we gonna?” Tyler stuttered, all they were was two men and a piece of plane wing.
“We don’t have to do anything…the tide’s taking us in!” Josh was right, the waves were pushing them towards the island.
As they drifted closer and closer to the land the two men could see more clearly what was ahead of them. The landmass was an island, the most they could see was a series of tall jagged peaks and the fog was thick around the island.
Despite getting closer to dry land Tyler felt that something was…off bout this island. The peaks were unusually twisted and sharp-looking, and the shapes of sharp-looking rocks could be seen jutting out of the water.
Tyler felt ice in his stomach, there was something ‘wrong’ about this island that he couldn’t explain. His gut instincts were churning, everything was telling him he should stay away from this island but they had no other choice.
It was the only land around for miles.
Tyler and Josh drifted closer to the island, the jagged rocks surrounded them as they moved closer to the shoreline. The rocks curled around them like the fingers of a gnarled, skeletal hand clutching them in its grasp.
Finally, a beach came into view, it wasn’t much of a beach it was just a small stretch of rocks and pebbles in front of a huge pile of rocks. With a gruesome screeching, the wing grounded itself on the jagged rocks and came to an abrupt stop. But by this point, they were close enough to the shore to get to dry land by foot. Tyler dragged himself through the spray of the ocean avoiding more pointy rocks and finally made his way onto dry land.
The moment Tyler’s feet left the waves and found the rocky beach he tumbled forward and collapsed in exhaustion. Josh followed soon after, landing beside him in the pebbles gasping for breath.
For a while they lay there, muscles burning from the strain of holding onto the wing for hours. Eventually, Josh got up and looked around, there was little else to see other than dense fog.
Tyler stood up shakily, brushing the sand from his soaked clothes. They both looked back out toward the ocean, Josh’s eyes widened as he squinted through the mist.
"Tyler, look!" he shouted, pointing toward the horizon.
Tyler turned to follow Josh’s gaze. Through the dense fog, the tail of the plane jutted out of the water like a shark fin, a grim reminder of how close they had come to drowning in the deep. It bobbed with the waves, the broken metal glinting dully in the weak light filtering through the storm clouds. The rest of the plane had already sunk, but the tail remained, a haunting beacon in the relentless ocean.
For a moment the two stood there in silence, staring at the remains of the aeroplane.
“Maybe we should try and swim back to it?” Josh broke the silence, “There could be supplies, food, survivors even.”
Josh had a point, they had no tools, food or basic survival knowledge to help them on this island. The plane might be the best chance they had at long-term survival.
“Maybe we could build a raft, if use the debris to build a raft we can float out to sea and…”
Josh’s train of thought was cut off by Tyler grabbing his shoulder in a sudden panic.
Before Josh could ask Tyler what was wrong he looked back out to the plane and then his blood turned to ice. A dark twisted shape was unfurling from the ocean and creeping its way up the plane, more shapes began emerging from the weather and wrapping around the tail.
Tentacles.
The tentacles wrapped around the tail of the plane as if it were a fish being ensnared by a predator before dragging it under the waves. Tyler and Josh could do nothing but stand there in silence as their greatest hope of survival was pulled into the depths by the giant sea monster.
With the screech of tearing metal, the plane had vanished without a trace.
Both Tyler and Josh stood there in stunned silence, unable to comprehend what they’d just seen. A huge tentacled creature had just dragged an entire plane under the waves, they dreaded to think of what would have happened if the creature had found them if they were still out at sea.
Josh turned to Tyler, “So uh…raft’s not going to happen.”
Tyler nodded his head, “agreed.”
Tyler’s voice was barely above a whisper, his throat was dry, and his mind raced with the implications of what they had just witnessed. If that creature was lurking in the waters surrounding the island, the ocean was off-limits. They had no idea how many more like it were watching and waiting.
The two were left with no other choice, they had to move further inland.
There were no sounds of birds or animals, no signs of life at all, just the oppressive silence of the fog. The faintest hint of an almost mechanical hum that seemed to vibrate through the air.
Josh frowned, standing shakily. " We should try to find some shelter. Figure out where we are."
Tyler nodded, though he couldn’t shake the feeling that they weren’t alone. There was something about the way the fog moved, like it was alive, swirling and curling in unnatural patterns. He couldn’t help but feel as though eyes were watching them from the shadows, hidden just beyond the veil of mist.
As they took their first steps inland, the ocean behind them disappeared into the fog, as if they had crossed an invisible boundary into a place forgotten by the rest of the world.
Tyler’s heart raced with unease, his instincts screaming that this island wasn’t just some remote landmass, they had washed up on something far darker, something alive.
Neither of them knew it yet, but the Island of Horrors had just claimed two more victims.