Compromise-Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw-

Chapter Twenty-Four

Wind flew passed me, as I fell towards the ground. My head bobbed as I opened my eyes, gaining consciousness once more. I blinked once, then realized I was falling to the ground. I looked up and seen my chute hadn't deployed. My heart raced as I panicked, reaching for the emergency release. I wasn't far from the ground to begin with, every second counted. I grabbed the cord and pulled as hard as I could. The chute released, watching the wind, but only long enough to slow me to half the speed I was falling, before catching on some trees.

Stuck to my seat, I bounced off a couple trees, my hands instinctively covering my face. A stick jabbed my side, then pulled away as I continued to fall through the tress, before coming to a complete stop. Once I was done moving, I moved my hands, and took a shaky breath. I was still about fifteen feet from the ground, though the chute had tangled wildly in the trees and wouldn't likely budge any further.

As my heart slowed down some, I came to the realization I was in pain. I took a sharp breath as I twisted a bit. A piercing pain was coming from my right side. My left hand reached across my body, finding the spot that hurt. I was greeted with a warm liquid, and knew before bringing my hand up for confirmation, that I was bleeding.

"Fuck." I muttered looking at the bright red on my hand. I glanced up wearily, at where I assumed it had been that the tree had stabbed me. Shaking my head slightly, I took a deep breath, before undoing my seat belt. I felt the pressure the straps had on me loosen, before I carefully pulled my arms out of them and let myself drop to the ground. I landed with a painful thud in the snow. I groaned, rolling onto my back to stare up at the grey sky above me. Remanences of my jet and the black jet were still falling, mostly light weight pieces that had blown.

A dark smoke still lingered where the initial crash has happened. I marvelled at the last bit of imagery that hinted at what I did. Part of me was still in disbelief. I knew that's what I needed to do, it was our only chance at surviving, but I barely escaped. I had pulled my eject after lining up my jet with the other, and had vaguely heard Rooster yell something, before I was in the air and enveloped by an explosion. The sheer fact that I didn't burn alive was baffling to me. Though I was incredibly sore and had been knocked unconscious for a moment.

As I laid in the snow, barely feeling it's cold touch through my gear, I heard an explosion. Carefully lifting my head up, I glanced around until I seen where it had come from. A jet had been blown to bits, but a chute was falling towards the ground with its pilot. My heart jumped, quickly realizing it was Rooster.

I got to my feet, wincing as standing straight up stretched my side wound. I put my hand over it and kept pressure, before limping over where I could see Rooster's chute falling. Above him, circling around, I seen Phoenix's jet. Trudging through the snow, feeling it's coldness nip at me the longer I stayed surrounded by it, I felt my panic set in.

Was he okay? Would he have a similar landing I did? Was he hurt? I need to get to him faster.

"I swear to god, if he did this on purpose." I muttered to myself as I heaved over a fallen log. I winced when my feet touched the ground again and leaned against the log for a moment to catch my breath. Still holding my side, I continued on. I walked for ten more minutes, before watching Rooster's chute fall passed the tree line. I was getting close.

"God dammit." I heard his heavenly voice say. I felt my excitement and relief make itself known as I got closer. The more he cursed, the happier I got. Soon, I could see his chair hanging in the trees in a similar fashion mine had been, while he stood on the ground with his helmet in his hands looking at something. "Stupid fucking-"

"You lost?" I asked, my voice much weaker sounding then I meant. His head lifted up straight, then he turned around looking at me with wide eyes.

"Sadie?!" He asked in shock, I nodded. "We didn't see a chute.. we thought..." he trailed off. I took a few steps closer, before stopping. I could see that his eyes were blood shot, and a few tear lines fell over his cheeks where soot had gathered. He had been crying. "But you're here." He added, letting what he was going to say hang in the air. I understood what they thought. We had to think someone died when there was no chute, or we could waste time looking and be killed ourselves.