“Commander!” Sam shouted as he rushed toward his unconscious body on the floor.
Tremors ran down Alex’s spine as her eyes remained fixed on the two blood drenched bodies of the pilots.
“Sam! Who the heck is flying the plane?”
Leaving the commander’s side, Sam leaped over to the first pilot’s body that sat pinned down by his seat belt. He was greeted by a bloody mess as half the pilot’s face was missing. A rush of air whistled through several bullet holes in the cockpit window.
“He’s dead too, Sam,” Alex reported as borne out by the number of bullet wounds in the co-pilot’s chest confirmed. Frantic thoughts flooded Sam’s mind. He looked back at where the commander still lay unconscious on the floor.
“See if you can wake him up, Alex. He’s still alive”.
Alex knelt at his side and slapped the commander hard across his cheek. “Commander! Wake up! We have a situation.“ Alex shouted. A second slap across the other cheek made him groan as he slowly regained consciousness.
“What the heck are you doing? You can’t fly this plane!” Alex yelled, suddenly aware of Sam taking position behind the wheel.
“Do you have a better idea?” Sam shouted back over the aircraft’s noise while clipping the blood drenched seat buckle in position around his torso. Alex climbed over the two dead bodies Sam had piled on top of each other behind the seats and clipped herself into the co-pilot’s seat.
“Sam, this is insane! We don’t know the first thing about flying a plane. Much less one that is faulty.”
A multitude of levers and gauges stared back at her. “How the heck do you switch this thing on?” Referring to the aircraft radio receiver she now held in her hand. Fiddling with the buttons on the panel in front of her she shouted into the mic.
“Mayday, mayday, aircraft in distress. Can anyone hear me, over?”
There was no reply and Alex tried again, switching the dial to the next channel. The plane shuddered and the nose took a sudden dip toward the ground below. Sam’s large hands gripped the aircraft’s control wheel as he fought to steady the plane. Beads of sweat formed on his temples.
“Come on, come on!” Sam encouraged the plane to respond; his eyes fixed on the artificial horizon indicator on the panel in front of him.
“Mayday, mayday, aircraft in distress. We need assistance. Can anyone hear me, over?” Alex tried again.
The crackling noise of the radio frequency echoed back.
“The comms must be out. It’s no use.” The commander’s strained voice filled the cockpit as he rose from behind holding his hand over his bleeding brow.
“What happened, Commander?” Alex asked with urgency as Sam finally managed to steady the wings of the plane.
“The captain prepared for an emergency landing and the next thing we knew, we were under attack. Last thing I remember was falling back onto the corner of the chair before I blacked out. I guess I was lucky.” He glanced at the bodies on the floor.
“Seems you got away with just a grazed brow from the bullet, but I won’t be so quick to assume we’re going to stay alive here though, Commander. This bird is losing power fast and I’m not sure I can hold her in the air for much longer. We’re down to one engine now.”
“We’re going to have to jump,” the commander replied. “I’ll summon the men and prepare the civilians. Try to keep it steady if you can. I’ll be back.”
Alex unclipped her seatbelt and pulled her knife from her boot. With one backward motion she slit the blade through the woven fabric that dangled from the chair.
“Here, let’s see if we can tie the steering wheel into position. It won’t hold but hopefully we’ll have enough time to jump.”
“Good idea, climb over and grab the wheel. I’ll secure it.”
Alex pulled back hard on the wheel. It shook vigorously under her hands draining just about all her strength from her arms.
The commander barged in just as Sam fastened the last knot on the seatbelt around the wheel.
“It’s now or never. My troops and the passengers are in position and the ramp has been dropped. We’re losing altitude — fast! We don’t have a lot of time if we want the chutes to open before we hit terra firma. Have either of you jumped before?”
“Yep, we both have. We’re good. Let’s go.”
Cold air hit their faces as the trio made their way from the cockpit to the cabin where the troops had lined up the reporters and relief team in front of the gaping ramp. From the top of the lowered steel floor, houses and green open spaces moved leisurely below the panicked stares of the relief group.
“I can’t do this!” The woman screamed in horror as she stood frozen in front of the gaping fuselage floor. “You can’t make me jump! I can’t do this!” She screamed.
Alex watched with empathy as the commander entered into an argument over the severity of the situation; resulting in another bout of hysteria.
“I’ve got it, Commander.” Alex intervened, pulling the woman out of line clipping her cord onto the rail in front of her.
“It’s ok to be scared,” Alex started, gripping the woman hard by her shoulders forcing her to make eye contact. “My first jump was one of the scariest things I have ever done but you can do it. I’ll be right behind you. You’re much stronger than you think. Don’t dwell on the fear. Just take one big stride and relax. Think of it as the next step in a dance. When it’s your turn, don’t hesitate or we’ll all go down with the plane. The cord will deploy your chute automatically. All you need to do is step out and focus on taking deep breaths. Once the chute opens you take hold of the two levers that will come down above your head. That’s what you’ll use to balance the chute and steer yourself with. Follow the folk ahead of you and straighten your legs forward and up when you come in for the landing. Got it? You’ll be fine.”
The woman’s bulging eyes from underneath her goggles and fast breathing told Alex that her pep talk had fallen on deaf ears.
“What’s your name?” Alex continued in an effort to distract the woman from the situation as the commander performed the last of the safety checks in front of them.
The woman’s face relaxed somewhat. “Elaine.”
“Elaine, that’s a pretty name. I’m Alex and this is Sam. We’ve got your back, Elaine. You don’t have much choice in the matter. It’s either you jump or you die with the plane. So which is it?”
Elaine’s freckled face went pale as she promptly nodded in acceptance and turned to face her fears.
The commander performed his due diligence on her chute and cord before checking both Alex and Sam’s. He proceeded to clip his own cord in at the back of the line behind them.
“Soldiers ready?” he shouted over their heads as his men collectively answered.
“Soldiers ready, Commander.”
“Civilians ready?” he shouted again.
“Civilians ready, Commander.”
“On my ‘go’! Three, Two, One, GO! GO! GO!” the commander shouted propelling the first of his troops to jump followed by the reporter, his cameraman and the three male humanitarians.
“I’ve got you Elaine, you can do it!” Alex assured the nervous woman when she was three soldiers away from jumping and, much to everyone’s surprise, Elaine bravely leaped into the air.
Alex didn’t hesitate and jumped immediately after Elaine. Her skin pulled as the force of the air filled her cheeks, threatening to blow her face right off. The air was icy on her skin. Moments later her body jerked up through the air as her parachute opened above her, affecting her breathing for what felt like several minutes as opposed to mere seconds. Once she settled into a steady glide she steered her chute into the direction of the soldiers and the rest of the party beneath her feet. Shrill screams filled the air when adrenalin kicked Elaine’s voice into action as her lungs finally filled with air again.
Vast open stretches of farmland steadily drew nearer. Unable to get a clear view of Sam over the cloth canopy above her head, she called up to him after which he promptly hollered back at her.
Relieved, she set her sights on the first soldiers who were due to touch the ground. The thunderous noise of the plane crashing somewhere behind them sent fresh vibrations of terror through her body. A silent conversation with God shifted her mind to once again focus on the soldiers below. Her brief moment of calm dissipated as snapping sounds in quick succession shattered the almost tranquil silence. There was no mistaking it. It was gunfire. Her stomach tensed up as she frantically searched where the bullets were coming from. Another series of gunshots resounded through the air and Alex watched in horror as one of the humanitarian’s parachutes collapsed over his head and sent him spiraling to his death. They were all open targets with no means of escaping the fierce rain of bullets that were aimed directly at them. All they could do was pray it miraculously missed their bodies — and parachutes.
As the first soldiers set their feet safely in the middle of a field on a farm below, they executed their tactical combat skills and fired back at the shooters. Elaine’s deafening cries echoed through the air as she neared the ground.
“Pull the chords, Elaine!” Alex shouted landing instructions just in time to see Elaine respond to ease her not too graceful landing. It was seconds before Alex touched down alongside an adrenaline pumped Elaine who was tangled underneath the parachute.
“Stay down!” Alex called out urging Elaine to also stretch out onto her stomach underneath the parachute. Squinting against the low beams of the sun, Alex searched the sky for Sam. Her body went numb as her eyes caught sight of his parachute that tilted sideways. When another bullet sliced through the air behind her, forcing her back down on the ground, her breath lodged in a space somewhere between her ribs and her throat. Distraught her eyes searched Sam’s chute for bullet holes and found that somehow it was still intact. Realizing he had lost one of his guide ropes she remained fixed on Sam as he fought control over the out of kilter chute. She watched as he floated faster than called for toward the earth. With seconds to go before he was due to hit the ground Alex spotted movement from her right. One of the soldiers ran toward Sam just as he came crashing down and without hesitation, the soldier wedged himself between Sam’s body and the ground.
From underneath Elaine’s sprawled out chute, Alex stared at the two motionless men that lay on the ground.
“Sam! Are you ok?” Alex yelled across the field as more gunshots flew over their heads. Sam didn’t respond.
Taking a chance between the oncoming bullets, Alex crawled on her elbows and stomach toward them through the field of tall yellow grass.
Soft groans escaped the soldier’s mouth from underneath Sam’s inert body. Alex yanked Sam’s goggles off his face.
“Sam! Wake up,” she called out with a trembling voice as she tapped both sides of his face and lifted his eyelids apart. He was out cold but still breathing. Her eyes skimmed his body for bullet holes but there were none.
“Sam,” she spoke again in a low tone while pulling him gently off the heroic soldier’s back. Sam let out a low groan as she pulled him by his arm. He was alive but he had injured his arm. The soldier gently slid out from underneath him, wheezing as he gasped for air.
“You ok?” Alex asked the soldier with concern.
The soldier loosened his helmet’s strap below his chin and pushed himself onto his elbows. “I’ll be fine Ma’am. How about your friend?“
“I think he’s ok, yes. I can’t see any bullet wounds.”
When the heroic serviceman lifted his head for the first time, Alex spotted he was the young soldier who sat opposite her on the plane.
“Thank you. You saved him,” Alex whispered.