Akeldama | lrh

twenty eight - Aim,

"You've always
had the power
my dear,
you just had to
learn it
for yourself."

-The Wizard of Oz

•••

When I finally open my eyes, the pain in my head almost makes me want to fall back down into the darkness. My ears are ringing. All I seem to be able to hear is a high-pitched wailing sound.

When I try to look up, white spots cloud my vision. Everything is spinning.

When I can finally see at least a little clearly I am able to make out Jess's hunched form, leaning over what I assume to be Ashton by the curls. She's not crying, but her hands are shaking as they travel over him. There's a lot of blood, that much I can tell, and when I finally manage to sit up my hands are slippery with it.

The smell of smoke is in the air. Flashes of gunshots.. dented metal and screaming, the crash.. we crashed.

And I'm alive.

At my arousal, Ivy and Luke start to sputter awake from across the cabin, both slumped against the back wall. They were gripping onto the exit door handle, so they must not have taken much of the impact since they weren't thrown across the room. Michael is still knocked out, his whole body slumped over the controls, but I can see the rise and fall of his shoulders. He's alive. We all are. Thank God.

The moment of relief is short-lived. My gaze shifts to Ashton, and my heart sinks.

He took a really hard blow to the head. Almost like Michael was before, the whole right side of his face is purple and dark, blood streaming from his ears, nose and mouth. He's breathing, miraculously, but there is still no guarantee that he will wake up without the healing serum.

With some difficultly I manage to get to my feet, and immediately my head spins. I fetch up against the side wall, gritting my teeth at the pain, and stumble over to Michael.

I manage to get him to wake up, after a lot of pushing and swearing. Other then a bruise on his forehead and some glass stuck in his shoulder, he is fine. He thanks me, blinking, tired eyes roaming the scene.

Suddenly, I hear something. Footsteps, coming from directly outside the hovercraft. My eyes catch on the shattered window directly above me, as a result of the hovercraft being turned on its side, and jump up to catch onto the sill.

"Alexandra, don't-" Luke's disgruntled voice comes from behind me, but I ignore it. I just have a weird gut feeling, like this is important. Using all of the upper body strength I have, I pull myself up and out.

When I land on the ground below, I notice two things.

One, the large group of blue clad soldiers standing directly in front of me. Two, my father at the front and center.

I can't even see straight, my vision is so blurry, so I'm almost completely certain I'm hallucinating. There is no way he is standing in front of me right now. He is gone. He is dead. There is no way he can possibly be alive. Right?

There is so much pain, all over me, that my mind is foggy with it. My hands are numb. The apparition that is my father drops his sword, then says my name.