Cloaked

Crash

Juno POV

Everything was black. Suddenly, my eyes flew open and I could hear the rush outside our ship. We had entered Tegantu's atmosphere as I had predicted and were free falling down to the surface.

My face hurt badly. My jaw was very sore and I had a sharp pain in my forehead. I ran my tongue over my lips and tasted salty blood.

I looked outside, but couldn't see anything through the smoke outside the viewing window.

I screamed when I saw Trey. His helmet had cracked in half. Blood trickled out of his right ear and he and huge gash along his cheek and forehead. His lip was cut open. When we collided, his face had hit the controls. Trey had been severely injured.

I shook his shoulders and he groaned slightly. I rolled him back into the seat and pulled off his helmet. His lips were slightly parted.

"Trey?" I cried, shaking.

His voice was cracked and strained as he responded. "June, I'm fine. Just, make sure we land safely." He exhaled and slumped down in his chair.

"Okay," I whispered, setting his head down. "I'll do it. I'll do it."

My knees trembled and threatened to give out as I stood up and placed Trey's helmet in the floor behind the cockpit.

I checked the ship's controls for major damage. The parachute still worked, luckily, so I pressed the button that read "Engage Parachute." The cruiser would automatically deploy it once we reached a lower altitude.

I returned to my seat and tightened both of our seat belts. I checked my helmet and suit, tightened my backpack, then reached over to my boyfriend.

His breathing was shallow and raspy. I found a jacket under my seat and began tearing the thin fabric. I pressed it against Trey's gash and soon the pale blue fabric had been strained crimson. I removed my hand and let the fabric sit on his cut.

My hang gripped Trey's. There was nothing else I could do to prepare for landing except hope for the best. My face scrunched up in anxiety.

As we closed in on the ground, I could start to see that we are going to crash into a desert. The huge sand dunes became visible and clearly were over 50 feet high.

The cruiser began shuttering as the pressure on it grew. The surface was so close. I once again braced myself for impact.

There computer voice announced that the parachute had been deployed and I immediately felt a decrease in speed. The rushing outside the ship became noticeably quieter. The cruiser lurched when air filled the parachute.

We flew straight into the side of a sand dune. The ship collided with the mass. I gritted my teeth together. Suddenly, the cruiser started to creak and groan. I stopped dead in my tracks and realized that the ship was hanging on a thread. It threatened to fall downwards. My breathing grew shallower and shallower as though my breath could move the ship. My eyes wandered out the viewing window, and I could see that we had at least 70 feet to the bottom of the steep dune. I gasped and the ship started sliding. It began to roll down the dune. I gripped the armrests as my body was thrown around in my chair.

The cruiser rolled to a stop while I was upside down. My seatbelt unlocked with a click. I squealed in surprise. The ceiling was only about 8 feet high, but the air was still knocked out of my lungs when I hit the ground.

I rolled onto my side with a painful groan. At least my backpack had softened my fall. As I rolled onto my back, I saw Trey's limp body hanging from his seat. His arms extended downward and his hair fell loosely in front of his face.

I found a small crate and used it to reach Trey. I heaved my chest onto the crate and pulled my legs up one by one. The crate was only about 2 feet tall, but my head was mere inches from the top the ship. Trey's feet hung by my head. I ducked and reached up to unclip his belt. My hand followed the thick belt until it reached the metal lock. With one push, the metal broke into two pieces and Trey fell to the ground.

I lept off the crate and scrambled onto my knees beside him.

"Trey!" I screamed, shaking his shoulders. "Trey, please get up. Trey!" I noticed that his knee had been turned in at a gut-lurching angle.

My eyes started watering when he didn't respond. Frantically, I tore off my gloves and helmet, then unzipped his suit I pressed my fingers to his neck. I didn't feel a pulse. Maybe my fingers were on the wrong spot. I hesitantly pressed my fingers to the same spot on my neck... and I felt intense beating.

"Trey!" I cried. His chest didn't appear to rise and fall. I pressed my ear to his chest and didn't hear or feel a single thing.

I fell backwards with a sob. My knees curled beneath me and I buried my face in my hands. My body began to shake uncontrollably and goosebumps crawled up my back. Tears streamed out of my eyes uncontrollably. Trey was gone. He was actually... dead.