Inhabited

Chapter 6

"You shouldn't—"

"I want to help." I cut him off with a hiss, glaring momentarily at my boyfriend. "Don't tell me I can't. She needs help."

He nods, dropping it. "Pin her and I'll do it."

I place my hands on the girl's shoulders, keeping her trapped to the ground. Her eyes jump to mine and they widen. She lets out a groan as Sully takes hold of her hand.

"On three." He tells me with a nod, encouraging me to start the counting.

"One—" crack. She screams, jerking under my grip. "What the hell?" I blurt, but my words are raspy. "What happened to two and three?"

"Yeah. What gives?" the girl finally speaks, going limp beneath my hold and her head falls to the side.

I look down to see her eyes flutter closed. "I don't – I don't think that the ankle was the only issue."

Sully moves to her head, trying to assess her. "I think she has something internal going on. Something we can't see without an x-ray or something. Definitely not what I can though."

"Let me check her." Nate appears and crouches next to the girl, reaching to peel back her shirt. "She's slightly enlarged here." He points to her abdomen. "Definitely internal. We're going to need to relieve the pressure inside—"

"I don't think it's just that. If she took a blow, she's going to need surgery to fix whatever happened."

I shake my head. "That isn't an injury." I rasp out. "She's pregnant."

The men look at me with wide eyes.

I point to her belly. "That's a baby bump. Not from an internal injury. You try relieving any pressure and you can kill the baby."

Nate blinks at me and then looks back at the girl, glancing back at her stomach. He reaches out and presses his palm against the small bulge. "I think she's right."

The girl stirs and groans. Blinking her eyes open, she catches sight of Nate and screams, swatting his hand off before scrambling up and back. My body crashes, going limp once more and I lower myself back to the ground, gasping for air. Pressing my inhaler back to my lips, I take in another puff of air, panic suddenly swirling through me. If I keep going at it like this, I'm going to run out before we ever get rescued. Then what? If I have an asthma attack without my inhaler, I'm doomed.

Rubbing my chest, I glance up at Sully who is watching me worriedly with crinkled eyebrows. I smile weakly at him, trying to show that I'm alright.

"You passed out." Nate starts, but he doesn't approach the girl. "I didn't realize – how far along are you?"

Her eyes flit to me and back to my brother. "I – I just have low blood pressure. I haven't ate much today, that's all. I'm – I'm almost four months." Fear sparks in her eyes and her bottom lip wobbles. "Is – is it okay?"

My heart squeezes at the worry in her words.

Nate shakes his head though. "I don't know just yet. But we'll figure out, together. We found some food. Why don't you come with me so I can get you something to eat?"

She hesitates and looks at me again. I nod in encouragement and smile just as weakly to her. "He's my brother, he's safe. I promise."

She bites her bottom lip but nods and let's Nate help her up. Why she trusts me, I don't know. I don't even know her name. But at least she's willing to listen in order to not pass out again and possibly die. A wave of dizziness shoots over me once more and I bend over, pinching the bridge of my nose to try and ward the worst of it off.

"Maybe you need to eat too." Sully urges.

"No." I breathe. "I need more." I shake my inhaler, the pump within rattling slightly to tell him. "I can't breathe."

"Look at me." He demands and slips his fingers beneath my chin, lifting my head. "Look at me."

My eyes meet his.

"Now listen to me and do exactly what I say, alright? I need you to breathe. Close your eyes and don't think about your inhaler. Just breathe. Let yourself take in the air around you. Find a calmness in your mind, your happy."

I hesitate but then close my eyes as directed and let myself fall away to my happy place. In a house with him, where I wake every morning to the smell of brewed coffee. We can sit on the deck and enjoy the chill of the morning air. Eventually, little kids will run in and out, shouting and squealing in glee. My lips part and puffs of air leave my lips, but my lungs don't burn. It doesn't hurt to breathe.

As I open my eyes, the pad of his thumb rubs over my bottom lip. "You're okay." He says confidentially. "It's going to be alright."

"Sully." I breathe, my breath still slightly crackly, but not as bad as it was. "What if—"

"No." He says quickly. "Don't think like that, Fawn. You're going to be fine. We're going to be fine. We're going to be rescued soon. We'll go home and you and I will start our new chapter together. Got it?"

I nod sullenly, letting him believe his own words. Hope doesn't twist my heart. It's fear.

My eyes shift to the mangled mess of the plane and once more, I gather myself together and turn toward it. The fire creeps along the interior, but it isn't as bad as it was before. For the closer to us it gets, the less motivation it seems to have to keep with its life. It'll be out soon enough.

Tilting my head slightly back, grimacing from the pain that sears in my neck as if I've slept wrong, I stare up at the mangled leaves and branches above. From where the plane had dropped from the sky, ripping them out of place and twisting them if they were strong enough to stay put. I can see the sky in this area. It's bright blue, not even an ounce of a storm that could've been the reasoning we were struck down. Just a fluke on the engine. Something had to have gone wrong.

Where is the pilot to give us answers?

I look around, trying to find him. Even the flight attendant, as she'd know as well. But neither of them are in sight or at least, anywhere that I can spot.

My eyes shift back to the front of the plane. The nose of it is smashed in and I'm pretty sure it looks worse close up. I turn in that direction and push my way to it, desperate to see the damage done. I need answers, no matter what they are.

Stepping around strewn luggage, some of their contents spilled out, I ignore the few bodies littering the ground this close to the plane. None move, so I know they've got to be gone. Not like that girl. They aren't going to suddenly wake up like her. I feel that in my chest. The hollowness at this thought carves into my heart and I try to ignore that as well.

Right now, I have a lot of answers to gather. To make sense of everything going on, because if I don't, it will just going to bug the hell out of me.