The Callisto Protocol

CH/\PTER 04: Crash

Jacob snapped awake, thrown headlong back into reality.

He gasped, feeling something digging painfully into his chest and stomach, and then immediately began coughing. Smoke was on the air. Something was burning nearby, or had burned. The world came to him in shattered fragments.

He could taste blood in his mouth.

Pain rippled across his body like lightning.

He could see faint flashes from actual lightning somewhere ahead of him.

Wind, shrieking, somewhere nearby.

That distinct hum, almost imperceptible, meaning the dampening field was still in effect.

Goddamn that pressure in his chest and stomach was getting unbearable. Slowly, like a bloated corpse rising to the surface of a lake, Jacob realized it was his harness. He reached up, pawing at it, fingers numb and unresponsive. He opened his eyes fully. The world beyond the front windows had gone dark gray. Snow blew past the glass, already beginning to pile up. Lightning flared, illuminating mountains.

"Made it!" he gasped as he finally got the harness undone fully. Jacob groaned, his whole body screaming in pain now. Sparks bled from his workstation, spitting down onto the floor by his feet. It was happening elsewhere in the bridge as well. "I told you not to-ah!" He started trying to stand up. "I told you not to worry, Max!"

It was quiet in the bridge, save for the snowstorm outside.

The pain flared up as he tried to stand and he fell back into his seat. He laid there and groaned, then laughed bitterly. "Any landing you can walk away from, right man?" he asked, laughing again.

Max was panting. He made a strange sound.

"Max?...Max?" Jacob opened his eyes back up and looked over.

Max was laying weird in his seat, facing away from him. He shuddered and made another strange sound.

"Ah hell, don't worry buddy," Jacob said, trying to force himself to stand up. "Don't worry, buddy, I'm-ah! I'm coming!"

Jacob got up onto his feet and stayed there for approximately half a second. Then he fell flat onto the deckplates, down onto his hands and knees. Fresh agony ripped through him. He didn't think anything was broken but dear God did his chest and head hurt. And arms. And legs. But Max needed him, and that's what mattered right now.

Head buzzing with dislocation and pain, Jacob crawled the short distance between their two seats. Max was moving in a way he took an instant disliking to. He was making that weird gagging sound again, still facing away.

"Max, it's okay," he panted, getting onto his knees and grabbing onto his chair. "It's all right, man, I'm here. I'm going to get you some help-"

"J-Jacob," Max slurred, and shuddered hard. "J-Jacob, why...why..."

"Max," Jacob whispered, forcing himself up as panic began to overtake him.

He started to realize that something serious had happened, and then Max suddenly rolled over, turned to face him.

Jacob screamed.

Half of his face was gone. Nothing more than charred meat. His right eye was fused shut. Several of his teeth were completely exposed and broken. There was a huge hole where his right cheek should be, and consequently his jaw hung at an unnatural angle. Jacob felt frozen black terror shoot through him and his mind flailed wildly.

Good God, he could see his jawbones sticking out through the flash-fried flesh.

"J-Jacob," Max gurgled, and a fresh stream of blood popped out of his mouth and ran aggressively over the ruined topography of his face. "J-Jacob." He reached out and grasped Jacob's wrist, twitching in what had to be apocalyptic agony. "Wh-why didn't y-you listen, Jacob? Why...why..."