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After an anxious wait, a new sound broke the cold-an unearthly screeching of protesting e of the cabin door raised out of the water The cables were unhooked and the entire rescue crew crouched down, set their shoulders against the door and heaved upward until it creaked almost to a full open position

The inside of the plane was dark and ominous

Pitt leaned across the narrow stretch of open water and stared into the unknown, his stoure threw a shadow over the water in the aisle of the leaalley

It was strangely quiet and there was no sign of human remains

Pitt hesitated and looked back Doc Gale and his ri cable froht the plane's interior

"Going in," Pitt said

He ju into the plane He landed on the deck in water that splashed over his knees His legs felt like they had been suddenly stabbed by a thousand needles He waded around the bulkhead and into the aisle separating the seats of the passenger cabin The eerie silence was unnerving; the only sound ca of his movement

Then he froze in shock, his worst fears unfolding like the petals of a poisonous flower

Pitt found hihostly white faces None moved, none blinked, none spoke They just sat strapped in their seats and stared at hihtless expression of the dead

A chill colder than the freezing air spread over the back of Pitts neck

The light fro eerie shadows on the walls He looked froers to wave a greeting or say so, but they sat as still as mummies in a tomb

He leaned over a man with slicked-back red-blond hair precisely parted down the middle of the skull, who sat in an aisle seat There was no expression of agony on the face The eyes were half open as if they were about to close in sleep, the lips htly loose

Pitt lifted a liertips just below the base of the thu beneath the skin on the inner side of the wrist His touch felt no pulsations-the heart had stopped

"Anything?" asked Doc Gale, wading past hier

"He's gone," replied Pin