Glass shards flying.
The sound ofgrating-ripping-screamingmetal.
Bumping, bumping, bumping...
And then: darkness. And the most awful silence.
Every muscle in my body had turned to stone. I couldn’t move for several seconds. Couldn’t even breathe. Snow gusted through my broken window and landed on the sleeve of my coat. Everything smelled like pine needles, engine oil, andliteralscorched earth. Was I paralyzed? I moved one thing at a time, successfully testing fingers, arms, legs—oof!Sharp pain. I’d scraped the tops of my knees on the underside of the cockpit. But nothing serious.
“Banshee?” Huck’s voice was broken, and that made me think he was, too. This jostled my foggy brain.
I ripped off my headset. “Huck?”
“Are ya hurt?” he asked.
“No. A little. Not much. Are you?”
“My back—”
Oh God!
“—feels like it got kicked by a horse, but I’m all right, I think.”
Relief washed over me as he pulled off his headset and dropped it on the instrument panel.
He shook himself and said in a daze, “I never thought for one second that I could land this piece of junk, but, by God, I wrestled it down, didn’t I? And we’re alive, hoo-hoooo!” he whooped.
“Um, Huck?” I asked, sniffing the night air that was blowing in my window.
“Yes?”
“What’s that smell?”
“Huh?”
“Is that diesel?”
He swore profusely and reached behind the cockpit seats to snatch up our bags. “Out! Out now!”
I brushed away broken glass and tried the handle. “My door is jammed!”
He kicked his own door—one, twice. It flew open with a bang, and a gust of wind rushed through the cockpit. He tossed our bags outside and practically ripped my arm off, dragging me across his seat as he exited. I couldn’t even get a word out. His hands were around my waist, and I was half lifted, half jumping into the snow.
Snow! And ground, most solid! Who cared that it might be haunted ground where nothing grew? Not me, buddy! I could have dropped to my knees and kissed it—and I almost did exactly that by accident because my knees were wobbly as Jell-O. Huck yanked me back upright. We grabbed our bags as flames shot up over the plane.
“Now run!” Huck shouted.
He didn’t need to tell me twice. I held my beret against my head as we dashed over the clearing. Light from the flaming airplane cast a disorienting, dancing shadow and made it difficult for my eyes to adjust to our surroundings, but I finally spotted the edge of the clearing... and the darkness of the forest beyond.
As we rushed into the trees, a thunderous explosion shook the ground and lit up the clearing, spewing up shards of metal that littered the ground behind us. I stumbled forward, racing as if the devil were behind me in the blazing inferno. Racing until my lungs and calves burned. Until Huck nearly tripped me, trying to gawk at the plane.
“Look!” he said, breathless, thrusting out an arm to slow me down.
I stopped to look. And to listen. The explosive fire was dying down. There were only muted pops and black smoke billowing as the blaze consumed the crumpled metal carcass.
We’d made it!
“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” I said between hard breaths, sprinting a few more steps just to be certain I was far enough away.
