Torn

Chapter 7

Immediately, our squad started jumping out of the plane in our predetermined order based on our flight seat configuration. Watching Ethan vanish into the thin air, I prepared myself for the jump. Now! Running at full speed to put as much distance between the aircraft and me, I threw myself out of the plane. Plummeting towards the earth, I waited for the correct altitude to open the parachute. Wind blowing my hair back, every passing second the ground seemed to grow larger. Fifty-nine! Sixty! I reached back for the cord to open the chute. Not there! Again I tried. No luck. Desperation increasing by the second, I padded my body for anything to open the parachute. My knife! Having about 5 seconds to spare, I drew the Adamas and quickly slashed the chute backpack wide open. Instantly I was jerked back. Relieved from saving myself from death, I blew out a long breath. Now, I just need to land on the ground alive. Peering at the ground, all I saw were the killers of parachutists. Trees. Not wanting to die, I frantically searched the ground for any flat pieces of ground which I could land on. None. Drawing closer to the ground, the logs of wood stared up at me like sharpened pikes. Steering my parachute, I attempted to slow my descent to the earth to prolong my seemingly inevitable demise. Fifty meters. Twenty-five meters. Ten metres. My boots grazed the treeline as I slowly began to be consumed by the forest. I'm not going to make it out alive. Suddenly, my chute was viciously yanked back up into the air. Given a couple more seconds to live by fate, I savoured the moments as I sadly admired mother nature. Grass! Veering to my left, I had spotted a large farmer's field to land in. Carefully decreasing my height and speed, I mentally prepared myself for the landing. "Touchdown!" I thought as the parachute covered me entirely. I was alive. Navigating out of the fabric maze, I searched for signs of my comrades. Nothing. Not having time to wait for the others, quickly I got rid of the parachute. Looking around, it was pitch black. Checking the time, it was 5:30. No light for at least another fifteen minutes. Seeing there was nothing left for me to do here and that if someone saw me I would stick out like a sore thumb, I started my trek to the rendezvous point. Cold air rushed pass my face as I sprinted to the nearby wood. After a couple of seconds, the forest vegetation consumed me. Certain nobody would see me, I consulted my compass. Southwest, that's where I need to be headed. Pivoting around in a hundred and eighty degree turn, I jogged off in the direction of the rendezvous. Pounding the damp dirt, bushes, tree limbs and long grasses smacked into me as I continued onward. Covering several kilometres, I stopped to take a breather and double check if I was heading in the right direction. Looks good. Squishing plants underfoot, I transverses over several more kilometres. Pausing for another break, I inhaled the cold damp air. Oddly, the water vapour covered my mouth much more than morning mist does. There must be water nearby. Plowing my way through bushes, I stayed on my course as every passing step the sound of rushing water grew louder in my ear. Breaking out of the bush, I stood face to face with a fast moving wide river. Looking at my compass, it pointed directly cross the body of water. Hoping my eyes were deceiving me, I shook the compass and checked again. Nope, still point across the river. Climbing down to the waters edge, I carefully placed my gear on the ground. Dipping my hand in the water, water slammed against it like a never ending shove. Heaving a stone into the middle of the running water, I tested to see if I could waddle across it. The river was barely shallow enough to cross not even factoring my equipment I would have to lug across. Glancing around, I searched for anything I could used to travel to the other side. Nothing. Pressure to get a move on because of time, I picked up my gear and started to head west long the river side. Maybe there will be a bridge I can cross over to the other side on in a couple kilometres. Walking to what seemed like hours, I knew I was going to be late. Still with no bridge in sight, I plopped back down on the roots of a tree to rehydrate. Tipping my head backwards, cold liquid quenched the thirst of my dry mouth. Ahhhh. Now how was I going to cross? Travelling along the river for multiple kilometres, it seemed like the width would never shorten. I could cross but I would be risking drowning and even if I made it to the other side I still wouldn't have my equipment. Snagging my adamas from my waist, I hacked a tall skinny year old oak. The damage was barely visible. Not wanting to come out, I gave the knife a huge jerk to set it free of its wooden clamps. Not knowing what else to do, I began to poke through my bags to see if there was anything to help me out. Ammunition, guns, food, explosives; there was nothing to help me. The sun began to peak from the dark grey-toned horizon. What was I going to do? Once the sun was up, I stick out like a sore thumb. Rummaging through the bags again, my hand fell on the grenades. I wonder how much firepower one of these things have? Twiddling it with my fingers, I grabbed my stuff and headed to the river. Time to see what it can do. Arriving at the bank, I looked for anything again that could be used to cross the large fast moving body of water. There, on the opposite side of the bank were a stack of rocks! Guessing I had a good enough shot as anyone, I plucked the pin and released the explosion device. Bang! Stirring up decent size waves, the grenade went off a few metres too short of the intended target. Taking out my second and final third grenade, I whipped them across the water hoping somehow they would hit the pile of stocks. Bang! Bang! Closer to my intended target but still too far away to do any damage. Attempting to fish out more, I thrusted my hand into the bag. Nothing. Peering into it to confirm my hunch, I was right. I had no more explosives. Mad at me wasting them on an impossible goal, I slumped to the ground with my equipment at my feet. Why did I have to do that? Listening to the river's rolling shore waves, I had no idea how I was going to get over. Faintly, in the distance, I heard the unmistakable sound of a motor boat. Someone must have heard the sound of the grenades and alerted the police about them. Hastily zipping up my bags, I took a hold of them and began to run for my life. Gotta ditch this place before they show up!