Red Bull

ten

MY EYES FLIT OPEN AND CLOSED, and so softly groan, unused to the bright, white light.

This is it. This is the end, I convinced myself. I turned my face to the side, to try and block it away so I could go back to sleep.

"Look she's waking up," somebody said, more like screams.

I can hear the blood pumping in my own head. Every stimuli is too much for me to handle, and it drags me away from sleep.

I open my eyes, and realize I'm in a hospital bed.

What happened?

I remember running through the course, watching as Coyote free fell, but then pulled up at the last possible moment... and the bird strike.

I say up with a gasp, tangling the cords that were attached to my body. I ripped the air tube away from my nose, and I take off the blood pressure monitor off my finger, and the machine begins to beep unceasingly. I started to work on the IV, when two hands stopped me.

"Breathe, it's all right Scarlett." I look up, and it's Coyote. "Breath Scar," he says, and I realize I'm hyperventilating.

I take in a deep breath, and let it out slowly, and match my breath to his.

I look around, and see that practically half of the detachment is in the room. Phoenix, Rooster, Hangman, Payback, Fanboy... and when I looked to my left, there was Bob, in his own hospital bed. He was watching me with worried eyes, trying to make sure I was okay. I shrunk under his gaze, and looked back to Coyote.

"Are you okay?" He asks, removing his hands from mine as soon as he figures that I'm sane enough to not try to escape from the hospital.

"I'm fine," I croak, my voice dry and cracked.

"Get her some water," Bob says, and Rooster fills me a cup out of the pitcher. He walks over and hands it to me, and I drink out of greedily.

"Thank you," I say after downing it. "How long have I been here?"

"You've been here for two hours, and Bob woke up 45 minutes ago." Coyote says a little cheekily, knowing my crush, and I blush and motion him to cut it out.

I open my mouth to talk, but a nurse comes running down the hallway and pushed between the crowd.

"Outta the way!" She yelled, and the Red Sea parted for her. Nurse Banks, which her name tags red, stopped, out of breath, when she saw me alive and sitting up.

"I thought your heart was failing, next time, keep the heart monitor on, got it Lieutenant?" She snips, sounding tired and annoyed.

"Yes ma'am," I say immediately, feeling both intimidated and embarrassed. Phoenix and Hangman chuckled on how red my face had gotten. I was not good with authority figures.

"Good. Visitor hours were over 15 minutes ago," she says, glaring at our friends.

"We're staying overnight?" I ask, confused. Physically, Bob and I were fine, no broken bones and hardly any bruises, but I was still minor lu freaking out that we had practically danced with death.

"Admiral Bates sanctioned it. We're keeping you overnight just to make sure you two are just shaken up." She assured me.

"Okay," I said, feeing embarrassed. I hadn't been paying attention up there, and I could've died. I could've killed Bob. I mean, who gets taken down by a bird strike?

Nurse Banks turns to our friends, glaring at them. They say their goodbyes and shuffle out of the room Nurse Banks follows them out, turning off the lights and closing the door behind her.

I slowly sink bank under the covers, my back turned to Bob.

Our shared silence is suffocating.

Bob awkwardly clears his throat. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah, I'm good," I lie, watching my hands shake as my vision adjusts to the darkness. "You?"

"I'm good." He says, his voice a little smaller.

"You don't have to lie to me." I mutter, but making sure it's loud enough for him to hear.

I watch out of the window, as the rest of the lights in the hospital shut off, emergency lights leaving an odd and artificial glaze.

"It was scary," Bob admitted, "But we lived, and that's all that matters."

"But I should've been more aware. That's what a pilot is supposed to do. I was so afraid that Coyote was going to die right before my eyes—"

"You had every right to be distracted." Bob tries to assure me, "Coyote's your best friend. Of course you were going to be focused on him. The bird strike was just a freak accident."

I sit up suddenly in the bed, looking over at Bob, who eyes were still trained on me, even behind his glasses.

"No, it's because I wasn't good enough. I could've maneuvered out of the way if I had been better. You see? This was a mistake. This is why Phoenix—"

"Screw Phoenix." Bob says, holding my stare.

"What?" I asked incredulously, how could he talk about his former wingman—wingwomen like that?

"I mean, the past is past. We were paired up for a reason. You're my pilot, Red Bull. There's no one I trust more than you."

I closed my eyes, and shook my head. How could he trust me?

"But I almost killed you." I reason.

I open my eyes, and Bob has taken off his glasses and is rubbing his own eyes. He states, "We didn't die."

"We could've," I argue back.

Bob emphasizes, "We didn't."

"You could've," my voice drops. That was my real fear. Having somebody's blood on my hands, and having to live with it. That has got to be an awful way to live.

Tell it to his family! I hear Maverick's words echoing in my head.

"Then we'll go down together." Bob says.

I lay down again, with my back to him.

I don't know how he could trust me, I don't even trust myself right now.

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