Bathed Silver in Mercury

VIII. Nick

"...It appears that the wife of King Menehptre died in childbirth, leaving a sole heir to the throne. A girl, called Ahmanet." Ahmanet...

Suddenly, Nick gasped and lurched forward. No one other than him seemed to notice though. What was up with him?

With Vail asleep and Ellie making it clear that she did not want to talk with him, he retreated back to his lone seat across the plane. Now there he sat, staring at the coffin again. Why was he so interested in it all of a sudden? There was something about it...

Everything that happened next was a blur.

Elerie gave a sort of gasp-whimper/stifled-scream when Chris shot to his feet and seized her by the throat. This action caused her feet to lift off the ground.

"Whoa - Vail, what the hell are you doing?" Nick cried, watching his ex-wife dangle by the neck in the grasp of his friend.

"C-Chris," Elerie choked out. She kicked her legs and squirmed, but it was no use.

"Corporal Vail, what in the living hell do you think you're doing?" The Colonel stormed towards Vail, who, just as he reached him, took the knife from his belt, and stabbed the colonel. Once. Twice. Elerie screamed as she watched the Colonel's now lifeless body collapse to the ground, or the best she could scream with a hand clamped around her throat.

Now the other soldiers on the plane, seeing their commander dead, drew their weapons, pointing them at Vail, and consequently Elerie.

"Hey! Hey! Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" yelled Nick, jumping within the line of fire, defending his friend and ex-wife. "Please wait!" As a soldier came closer, Nick snatched his gun from him. "Okay back off!"

Now Vail held Elerie's neck in one hand, and the blood-soaked knife in the other. If anyone would be his next target for using the knife, it would be her. Nick found that he really didn't have a choice.

Bang! The gunshot rang throughout the confined space, the bullet burying itself in Vail's shoulder. This caused him to drop Elerie, who screamed, because of both being dropped and the gunshot.

As Vail recovered Elerie scrambled away, Nick helping her to her feet and drawing her close to him with an arm around her waist, she being too shocked to protest. Now her own hand held her neck where it still felt as though she were being choked.

"Whoa, hey-" Nick stepped away just as Vail swiped at him with the knife. "Vail, what are you doing?" But Vail only continued to approach, zombie-like, holding the knife out. His gaze was distant and his breathing was a heavy wheezing.

"Vail? Vail stop. Stop! Put the knife down."

"Chris?" Now he headed for Elerie again, the knife level with her chest. The group had backed up as far as they could go.

Bang! Elerie jumped and cried out as another bullet from Nick's gun hit Vail in the shoulder again. This didn't seem to faze him though, and he continued to advance.

Nick fired again, this one in the chest, and Vail fell to the floor, dead.

Silence. Bang! Nick shot him once more. Elerie let out a whimper. He looked pale and dazed himself. He'd just shot his best friend.

"Oh Chris," she whispered shakily.

"I-I'm sorry," Nick managed, passing the gun back to the soldier.

One episode of chaos led to the next. They barely had time to recover from that whole ordeal and Nick didn't even get the chance to check to make sure Ellie was alright before the plane gave a great lurch.

Peering out the window, Nick saw that the wing was damaged. He burst into the cockpit. "What's happening?" he demanded.

"We don't know. Take a seat," one of the pilots ordered as they tried to regain control of the plane.

That was when Nick noticed something ahead of them in the sky, drawing closer. A great, dark cloud...

Birds! The great flock came smashing through the windshield, attacking the pilots. Nick stumbled back into the main cabin to avoid being hit himself just as everyone's feet were swept out from beneath them - gravity within the plane was gone, leaving everyone floating around the cabin.

He heard a familiar cry and caught Ellie as she flew towards him. She gripped his jacket tightly and the two clung to each other amidst the ensuing chaos.

Nick searched frantically but finally located the parachutes. And good thing too, for the plane gave a lurch as one of the wings ripped off, tearing a giant hole in the side which sucked everything that wasn't held down out.

"Parachutes!" he hollered. Finally, he managed to grab hold of the parachute - the only parachute. "Take it!" He shoved it into Ellie's hands.

"No you take it!" She shoved it back.

"No, you-" He shoved it back to her and helped secure it on her back.

"Uh, ah! I don't know how to do this!"

"Hey, hey, Ellie, you can do this, you can do this! You're going to be fine!"

She grasped his arm, never wanting to let go, as the plane continued to nose-dive spiral down.

His hand clasped tightly over hers holding the string. She stared at him, wide-eyed. He gave a nod, letting go of her hand. Gripping the string tightly she gave a tug, and the chute opened, sending her flying out of the plane.

She was safe. Thank God she was safe. Nick grasped the plane wall and closed his eyes, waiting for the crash.

(Cliffhanger - sort of! ;) Haha thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed!)