Lights | J. Seresin

11

Maverick told me not to think

River opened her eyes, she looked around and realize, she made it through the crash. As she sat up, she saw red in the snow which then she saw a gash in her leg, not a huge one but it was still quite alarming, she was bleeding.

She tore the parachute and tied it around her leg to help stop the bleeding. "Gosh I need to get this check out when I get back, but how?" She questioned herself as she double check the work she did.

She sighed, she heard something in a distance, so turned and saw that a helicopter was coming toward her. They spot her and they began to shoot at her. She hid behind a tree as the bullets flew, she hissed in pain due to her leg.  "Holy shit." River groaned as she spot the helicopter turned around and faced her. Before she knew it, the helicopter ended up in flames.

Then she sees Rooster's plane, who then got hit by SAM's. River panic for a moment until she saw parachute. "Holy shit, my best friend is an idiot." She muttered and ran that direction. "Please let him be fine, Please let him be fine." She muttered as she ran despite the pain she was in.

She ran until she found him getting out of his parachute. "Bradley!" She yelled as she gotten closer. "Lana! Are you alright?" He asked. "Yeah, are you?" She asked as she gotten closer. "Yeah." Rooster said to her. "Good." She said as she then pushed him on the ground. "What the fuck, Bradley!" She exclaimed.

"Lana, what the hell?" He says angrily as they both threw their helmets onto the ground. "What are you doing out here?" She questioned him angrily. "What am I doing here?" He questioned her back. "I didn't take that missile so you could be down here with me, you should be back on the carrier by now!" River shouted.

"I saved your life!" He yells at her. "I saved your life! That's the whole point, whet the hell were you thinking!" She exclaimed. "Maverick told me not to think!" He exclaimed back. She nodded knowing that he was correct on that. He throws his arms up as she took a moment to catch her breath then they made eye contact, then he made contact with her leg. "Shit." Rooster said. "I'll live, worst could've happened." Lana said. 

"It's good to see you Lana." Rooster said to her. "Good to see you as well Bradshaw." She replied back.

"I came back because not only your my best friend but Harper." Rooster said. She looked at him, "She was losing it, screaming. I couldn't take it, I couldn't handle the idea of her not having her sister, leaving you out here." Rooster said and River sighed.

"We need to get back." River said. "What's the plan?" Rooster asked. River bit the inside of her cheek as an idea came to mind.

............

"You're not serious?" Rooster questioned the woman. He looked through the binoculars, "You gotta be kidding me. An F-14?" Rooster said as he looked ahead. "Maverick shot down three MIGS in one of those." River commented. "You don't even know if that bag ass can fly." He said to her. She looked at him, "Well... let's find out then." She said as she got up making her way to the runway. "River!" Rooster whisper shouts after her, "Okay.." He said to himself as he got up and followed her.

They start walking through their runway, River was nervous going through there. "There's guys up there, River." Rooster points out to her. "No shit there Rooster..." She responded. "Then there's more over there." Rooster points out the other direction. "Alright... Let's start running then shall we." River responds. "Yeah... run." Rooster said as they took off faster.

...............

The both of them came up to the plane. River looked over everything, she sighed. "It needs gas, other than that we should be a go." River said then her and Rooster got to work on connecting to the hoses to get plane started. "I got the flying, you can be WSO." River said as she was getting ready to board to make sure everything working fine. "You got this." River said as she pointed out the hoses. "Yeah but you sure you got the flying down?" He asked her and she chuckled. "I am River, I was given tips from Iceman and Maverick, I got this , we got this." She assures him. She sat down in the plane, looked at the thing in front of her. "How in the world did they fly this?" She questioned herself. "How's everything looking Lana?" Rooster asked her.

She looked at everything, she sighed at relief when she saw Gas and things were increasing and almost full. "Everything looking good, you can start unconnecting the hoses, let's get home." River said to him as she started getting the plane started up. As soon got the hoses off, he climb in behind her, he looked at what was in front of him. "This thing is so old." Rooster said to her. She chuckled. "I think Harper would be going insane if she sat in front of those controls, but you got this, we got this Roost." River said.

She pulls the plane out then looks ahead. "Holy shit... this is seriously destroyed... holy." River muttered as she looked at the crumbled runway. "Both runways are cratered. How are we going to get this museum piece in the air?" He questioned him. She thought for moment, then shook her head. She pressed the buttons to bring the wings out. Rooster looked out and noticed the wings, "Why are the wings coming out, River?" He questioned her. She smirked a bit. "Because Roost.." She answered.

"River, this is a taxiway, not a runway. This is a very short taxiway." Rooster says to her. She smiled a bit. "I know but just hang on." She tells him as she starts to accelerate. "Holy Shit!" He exclaimed as she took off quick. "Here we go!" She exclaimed "Holy shit!" Rooster exclaimed as they barely make it over the bridge then losing their front wheel in the process. "Damn there went that but that went well, let's fly this fossil and get home, besides I got a little sister who is probably going insane about right now, Harper and everyone, we are coming." River said.