created →jason grace

thirty-five

{Leo}

AT FIRST, LEO THOUGHT ROCKS WERE pelting the windshield. Then he realized it was sleet. Frost built up around the edges of the glass, and slushy waves of ice blotted out his view.

"An ice storm?" Piper shouted over the engine and the wind. "Is it supposed to be this cold in Sonoma?"

Leo wasn't sure, but something about this storm seemed conscious, malevolent—like it was intentionally slamming them.

"It isn't, it never snows in this area." Lina's voice came close as she stuck her head between the two seats.

Jason woke up quickly. He crawled forward, grabbing their seats for balance, Lina helped putting a hand on his arm. "We've got to be getting close."

Leo was too busy wrestling with the stick to reply. Suddenly it wasn't so easy to drive the chopper. Its movements turned sluggish and jerky. The whole machine shuddered in the icy wind. The helicopter probably hadn't been prepped for cold-weather flying. The controls refused to respond, and they started to lose altitude.

Below them, the ground was a dark quilt of trees and fog. The ridge of a hill loomed in front of them and Leo yanked the stick, just clearing the treetops.

"I absolutely love bumpy rides!" Lina spoke, fake enthusiasm dripping from her words.

"There!" Jason shouted.

A small valley opened up before them, with the murky shape of a building in the middle. Leo aimed the helicopter straight for it. All around them were flashes of light that reminded Leo of the tracer fire at Midas's compound. Trees cracked and exploded at the edges of the clearing. Shapes moved through the mist. Combat seemed to be everywhere.

He set down the helicopter in an icy field about fifty yards from the house and killed the engine. He was about to relax when he heard a whistling sound and saw a dark shape hurtling toward them out of the mist.

"Out!" Leo screamed

They leaped from the helicopter and barely cleared the rotors before a massive BOOM shook the ground, knocking Leo off his feet and splattering ice all over him.

He got up shakily and saw that the world's largest snowball—a chunk of snow, ice, and dirt the size of a garage —had completely flattened the Bell 412.

A sharp, high pitched scream caught his attention.

He instantly recognized Lina's voice as he scurried up and moved towards the direction of the sound. The girl was only a few feet away from him and he found her easily. She was on her back panting heavily a helicopter door a few inches to her right.

"Bro, Leo. I almost died." the blonde girl sputtered out as she took the hand Leo had stretched out to help her.

"I mean technically, we all almost died but I can see how you might have forgotten that." Leo joked, helping her dust off some of the snow on her.

"You all right?" Jason ran up to them, Piper at his side. They both looked fine except for being speckled with snow and mud.

"Yeah." Leo shivered. "Guess we owe that ranger lady a
new helicopter."

"I heard the scream. Gods, Lina it scared me." he quickly wrapped the girl in what seemed like the longest and shortest hug ever.