Fly High and Go Far

HANGMAN-Chapter Five: Destroyed

When Sammy woke up the next morning, she slept better than the night before and received no texts both during the night and in the morning. It was just a normal day for her, she was happy about it. Though, a good morning text from a certain someone wouldn't have upset her like it might have in the recent past. She did her normal morning routine, thinking about her now-growing crush on Jake Seresin, before leaving for work. With a protein smoothie in hand, Sam took her father's car to work since it was raining. Her father rarely went to work other than for official business. Most of his job was able to be done at home, allowing him to spend what little days he had left with his family, specifically with his wife.

Sam arrived at work and hurriedly ran towards the front door upon seeing someone standing there. It opened up for her as she rushed in, trying not to get completely soaked from the monsoon. She shook her hands off and rubbed the water off of her face.

"Thank you," she told the figure, looking over at them, realizing it was Hangman.

"You're welcome, darling," he replied with a cheeky grin. Sammy chuckled and looked down. "You should invest in a raincoat." He noticed Sam was wearing a hoodie. Sam looked at down at herself and then back up at him.

"Well, you are taking me out this weekend. Maybe you can get me one?" Sam asked, giving Hangman some bait. His eyes widened a bit.

"We can definitely do that. But for now, you should get out of that soaking wet hoodie before you get sick," he replied, looking at the rest of their classmates running in the rain, avoiding the parking lot.

"I'll see you in there, Seresin," Sammy said, walking down the hallway and to the locker rooms.

Sam took her hoodie off and tried stringing out in the showers that may or may not work. Her shirt underneath wasn't soaked, but it was wet. She knew she couldn't fly with a wet shirt, no matter how hot it got in the jet.

"Someone told me you have a date with Hangman," Phoenix piped up behind her friend, coming over to investigate what was going on both then and now and with the upcoming weekend. Sammy looked over and then walked her hoodie over to an air dryer on the wall.

"Maybe I do," Sammy replied, starting up the hand dryer. Phoenix stood there, in her flight suit, watching her friend dry her hoodie.

"Do I need to warn you about him?" She asked Sam rhetorically. "You know what kind of guy he is. You went to the naval academy with him, and he just so happened to also be in our flight school class."

"No, I know. It's why there's only one date," Sammy piped up, removing her hoodie from the heated air and feeling it to see if it would manage inside of a locker for the day.

"You remember what he did to Rebecca Yeates, right? The wizzo?" Phoenix followed behind her friend as she headed to change. Sam hung up her hoodie and grabbed her flight suit and gear out of the locker.

"Yeah," Sam said, annoyed. "I remember her. He ghosted her on their second date. But you also have to realize, Trace, that she was a bitch." Sam zipped her suit up and then put her harness and gear on before putting her boots on.

"I just don't want you hurt, that's all. And same with Rooster. He called me yesterday. Called me, Sam! I never answer my phone, you know that," Phoenix yelled. Sammy stood straight up and shut her locker door.

"I remember the one and only time I called you. You let it go to voicemail," Sam reminisced, chuckling. Phoenix nodded and sighed.

"Just be safe, okay?"

"I will, Tasha. Don't worry."

The two of them walked out of the locker room and into the hangar bay where people were taking their seats for the day. Sam took hers right behind Hangman while Phoenix took hers next to Bob and behind Rooster. She looked at her watch, and right as eight hit, so did colors and their instructor walking in. They all stood up in attention, listening to the national anthem blare outside. They all exchanged glances as Maverick stood at the front and watched them. But right when colors ended, he had them all sit down.

The classwork for the day was going over the mission itself, explaining what enemy forces they would be up against and how they would stay under 100 feet, something most of them had never done. Maverick explained the parameters of the mission before looking at everyone.

"In your aircraft, we have programmed the course in it. You will follow that and learn how to accomplish our task that way. If you step outside of the zone of flying, you're dead. We'll be doing this in the flat desert so none of you will risk flying into neighborhoods and inhabited locations," Maverick explained to the class. Sammy stared up at the screen as it played the course over and over again. She did some quick math as she pondered the course. Her brow furrowed, realizing that they had to fly at almost 400 miles per hour under 100 feet. No matter who went on the mission, their chances of dying went up almost eight times. Then she realized that she signed that dotted line. They all did.

Hangman turned around to face Sammy, getting her out of her train of thought, grinning from ear to ear. She had clearly missed something, but immediately knew that Hangman was being Hangman.

"And he was there when his old man died-," Hangman looked back at Rooster, who had shot out of his chair. Hangman got up defensively as everyone held each other back. Sam stared at Hangman and then at her friend who was running high on adrenaline. Maverick stood in between the two and Sam's brow furrowed back at Hangman.

"Everyone is dismissed," Maverick said, clearly reliving his past. Hangman looked at Sam and smiled.

"Your friend needs to learn his place," he replied, excusing his actions. Sam looked at him angry and without missing a beat, sent a slap across his face, letting the skin on skin echo throughout the hangar. Everyone stared, but didn't move. Hangman held his cheek at stared angrily back at Sammy.

"How fucking dare you?" She piped up. "You haven't changed one god damn bit." Sammy turned around and walked out of her row of seats, heading straight to the locker rooms.

She sat on the bench, staring at the lockers in front of her, brewing in the anger that refused to subside. Phoenix walked into the locker area from the shower area and sat next to her friend. They sat in silence as Phoenix wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulder.

"You're one of the strongest people I know, Kazansky," she whispered. Sam nodded and sighed heavily.

"I can't fucking believe him. He knows I'm good friends with Bradshaw. And that shit-eating grin," Sam stood up, shaking her head disapprovingly. "I want nothing to do with him."

"You know he is still here. He's talking to Maverick. Or, well, Maverick is disciplining him," Phoenix piped up. Sammy looked over at her friend and then immediately got dressed in her civilian clothes, hoodie now dried from the rain earlier, before leaving the locker room.

She followed the hallways to the office where Hangman stood at attention while Maverick was clearly yelling at him. Sam stared into the office, making eye contact with her uncle, who then looked back at Hangman. Her teammate left attention and walked out of the room, stopping halfway upon seeing Sam standing there. He walked quicker to the door and ripped it open, pushing past her.

"Seresin," Sammy piped up. He turned around and looked pissed.

"What do you want, Kazansky?"

Sammy sighed and shook her head, trying to bite back her emotions. "I don't know what Captain Mitchell told you, but I'm here to remind you that if you want to go out this weekend with me, you've got to change. Understood?" Seresin relaxed a bit.

"You slapped me though. Pretty hard," he said, wanting an apology.

"And you disrespected my best friend, my uncle, and my father. I would've done more, but I like my job more than I like the idea of punching the shit out of you," Sammy replied. "So you need to change now, otherwise, you will lose more than the date this weekend."

Hangman walked away hiding his growing anger, leaving Sam standing there with her backpack, ready to go home at any moment. The door opened up and Maverick walked out, standing right next to her.

"Is there something between you and Seresin?" He asked. Sam sighed, looking at the floor.

"I don't know anymore," she replied, walking forward, not wanting to talk to her uncle.