Forced Freefall

Chapter 8

I was really getting tired of being their lab rat. I guess I really am not necessarily a lab rat, but it annoys me how they are playing around with my sense of danger to apparently ‘train’ me. But then again, you can’t really do laps or have an extreme fitness hour on a plane headed nearly straight into enemy territory. Whatever happens, I know for a certain fact that one; Cliff and Sadie are responsible for me being alive for a few weeks longer, and two; that they were twice nearly responsible for my death in the same time period. So, they kind of are my enemies and friends. Frenemies. But I know I can trust them. Otherwise, two of us would be dead right now.

    I felt quite exhausted, and so I decided to sleep. I was still in the co-pilot’s seat, so Cliff could get me if need be. Sadie apparently felt tired, but wasn’t exhausted enough yet. And so, she practiced acrobatic battle, melee combat, and uphill as well as downhill fighting. She is truly a warrior. She could fight the entire Xawzlij defense unit and leave the battle without a scratch. I woke up a few times because of the commotion, and gave up after being woke up six times.

    But we could still hear and sometimes see flashes of Sadie. “A fortress with feet, she is.” Cliff said. I looked at him closely for the first time in what had to be about five hours: His eyes were like that of a raccoon’s, lips dry and cut, with his entire face in general displaying a dangerously dark shade of crimson. It was hard to tell if he was alive or not. His darker-than-dark black hair was now reflecting the dim light that escaped from the setting sun because it was so sweaty. If this was Cliff, who had not left his seat unless he needed to use the washroom for a quarter of a day, I could not fathom how Sadie could still have blood in her veins still. Non-stop training had probably drained every trace of energy out of her. Hopefully she would still be able to crawl in the heat of battle. If not, the weakest of the weak in the enemy army would be able throw a spear at her, and it’d end up hitting her foot. But because of her extreme exhaustion, it is likely she would die before she could take another breath.

    As if on cue, as soon as I started silently thinking to myself, two things happened. Sadie slowly opened the door to the cockpit, a grey shadow suddenly flooding the little light left by dusk. At the same time, Cliff collapsed, most likely from not sleeping for hours. Thankfully, I had picked up a few of his techniques, and within seconds autopilot was guiding the plane to our destination. Cliff had prepared for almost anything, and had a simulation and training program developed while the plane was flying. It was now ninety-nine percent finished installing. “Sadie!” I whispered with a high-pitched, ordering tone. “Take him somewhere, while I wait and learn basic piloting controls. We need to act fast. Remember, the enemy can attack at any moment!”

    She nodded silently, and grabbed Cliff. The sun was now disappearing, and soon the entire sky would become a vast sea of darkness. I had a long night ahead of me. As soon as Sadie shut the door, I whispered to an absent Cliff. “You better wake up quick, or you’ll never wake up again.”

***

Sadie was dragging Cliff slowly, but was still only managing an inch a second with all her might. The most comfortable area she could see in the dim glow was a couch pillow and a carpet. Still struggling, she managed to get him onto the carpet and put the pillow under his head. Her strength was so thin now that she felt the next breath could not be inhaled. She took one step. Her entire leg went numb. She could not utter a single word for Isaac to come and help her. Was this how she would die? Her legs not strong enough to even let her step forward, and take a bite of something?

No.

She would not allow it. Sadie Dexter would not die because she had fallen and could not get up. The next leg moved, but she did not feel it because it too became numb. With one final, weak effort, she jumped-attacked the supply of food that lay on the floor. Her right arm was stretched out, and her fingers were millimetres away from the closest dried fruit packet. The magnitude of her weak fall had knocked down a small bag of pecans. A couple spilled over and landed almost directly into her left palm. She smashed her face directly into the pile of nuts, and she finished chewing all of them quickly, newound energy (very little as it was) surging through her veins. The few she had savagely gobbled went down her throat. She would digest them and have enough energy to live on when she woke up.

But before she could let out her next breath, her eyes involuntarily shut tight, and the darkness overpowered her. She laid on the ground, drool slowly starting to appear on her arm. Extreme discomfort was the last emotion she felt before the exhaustion that could be controlled hours before was now so overwhelming that every single slight thought seemed like an impossible feat. One blink was such an enormous effort that Sadie decided it was not worth it. She would wake up; she knew it. Isaac was so determined to prove himself there was no doubt that they were going to land peacefully. Sadie’s last hope before she let the world crumble around her was that her and Cliff’s new recruit (unexpected fit him better) would have gotten enough sleep to fly through the night. As she disappeared into sleep, she thought she could hear Isaac yelling for her. Do it, Isaac. She ignored the pain. Survive. For us all.

***

I only heard a dull thump. But I was aware enough to feel an entire wave of theories of what might have happened behind that door, away from the cockpit. I managed to settle on the idea that Cliff had fallen out of Sadie’s grasp.

I waited a minute. Maybe Sadie was trying to help Cliff. It seemed easily imaginable that she had been taught a method to cure unconsciousness or outstanding fatigue. I was growing impatient, believing that Cliff had faked the collapse just to see my reaction. I first hollered “I am not a lab rat anymore!” But then, I grew worried. “Sadie? Cliff? Hello?”

I quickly turned on the radar system, but it would take quite a lot of time to load. Shorter than I expected, the installation and processing time all added up to about four minutes. I let the jet use a small fraction of fuel to take over the position I was holding. Instantly, I saw buttons being pressed by an invisible entity. It was actually quite...thrilling.

I walked slowly but hastily into the other part of the plane, the darkness being abruptly destroyed as the lights of the plane flickered on. I blinked several times and then gasped as I took in the scene. It literally was so similar to an average crime scene I felt like puking.

   

Cliff was lying on a carpet, turned over, his head facing the wall of the plane. He was still passed out. Sadie was also passed out on the other side of the plane, the long emptiness of the cylindrical corridor littered with small crumbs and pieces of food. She must have struggled so much to get to the food she collapsed herself. I was going to have to get through this night (or at least the next few hours,) alone. A small fidget of the airplane and I was running to the pilot’s seat. but before I opened the door, through the crack I saw through, there was a person now piloting in the cockpit.

***

    I instantly fell to the ground, ready to attack, but only stealthily. But then, an idea came to me, and I decided it was my best bet. Running quickly and silently, I slammed into the door, and attacked the intruder.

    Of course.

    It was a blue holographic image showing autopilot pressing all the controls. Apparently, it activated after I left my seat. I sat down on top of it, and it instantly turned off. I checked the radar: It had finished loading. The clock showing the time it had been active only showed thirty-seven and a half seconds when I looked it over. Nothing I would have deemed useful, probably. A muffled groan sounded from the door. I assumed that it was Cliff moving off the wall. I looked behind the chair to make sure, and then started to hear it. A slight whistling sound. I quickly realized it was the window, and then closed it. My feet on the left side of the control panels (which had nothing on it), I stretched my arms and yawned, preparing for the tiring night that would await me.