They Call Me the Coroner | Top Gun: Maverick

Hostage Hotel

~~Maverick~~

My second time in the canyon proves to be less difficult than the first. I crossed Coffin Corner without so much as a blip on my radar for enemy contact. Clear skies. No one but me.

That makes me very uneasy.

After getting a few coherent location points from Hangman, I made for the direction of where he saw Tesha crash.

I see broken trees, so I head for them. The plane rumbling underneath me, shuttering at the sight of how far the downed plane skid in the snow. I furrow my brows.

Sheets of metal hang in the branches of the trees like the limbs were trying desperately to stop Tesha's plane. To hold her back from the...oh God.

The ravine.

The trench dug by her jet ends at the edge of the ravine. As I pass, I spy the terrible sight of a plane dunked in the water below.

"No. No. No!" I hammer my fist on the hood of my plane.

I'm low enough to get a better look. All I see is the torn jet...no pilot.

Is she in the water? Did she get out before the plane fell?

Maybe.

I make a couple of circles around the site until my eye catches something.

From up here they look like little dots of black in the vast expanse of snow, but I can tell what they are.

A helmet and a vest. And there's a trail of red leading into what appears to be tire treads in the snow. I follow the tire marks.

And I see the truck.

~~Tesha~~

I open my eyes. Things are warm. A nice change. There are beeping noises to my right. I squint down at my body.

The patchy red stains on my fingers are rather dark. My hands shake as I flex them. The muscles tight and restricting. I'm missing three fingernails. There's a clamp around my right forefinger with a wire traveling up my arm which is bandaged completely.

Under the bandages is black and blue skin. Well...what skin is left is bruised. I can only imagine what my face looks like. The wire leads up to a monitor next to my head, keeping track of my heartbeat.

I finger the covers over me and frown. Frowning even more at the pain coursing through my skull while making that expression. It's a rough blanket and coarse against the pads of my fingers. I wiggle my toes.

I squint around the room finding it rather cozy and accommodating.

It's essentially a hotel room complete with bathroom and mini fridge, just minus the AC. But in a place this cold, you don't really need it.

The twin bed I'm on is rather comfy. White cover and sheets. A tall headboard and almost non-existent footboard. There's a TV right up against the end of my bed, and a radio sits on a nightstand on my left.

I glance at the door. It's dark blue and has a bright grey handle like those at the hospital. Oh, I forgot to mention that the door locks too.

Seemingly from the outside.

I flip the switch on the radio. It plays through one song and then starts that song over again. I guess it's not really a radio at all.

You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips.