Penny looked over at Chris and gave him an amused look. He looked very nauseous and somewhat dizzy. Chris sunk back into his seat and turned his head toward her. Penny began to giggle a little.
“You did good,” Penny smiled softly. “You’re really accurate. Are you okay?”
“I feel sick, but yeah,” he replied in a slight grumble. “Just trying to process that.”
Penny stopped laughing and shook her head, “You did great. I’m very impressed.”
“Violet didn’t seem to think so though,” Chris reminded her. “She seemed pretty unhappy about it.”
“She’s only impressed with herself,” Penny commented, rolling her eyes and unbuckling herself.
“But isn’t she better than most of the pilots here?” he wondered aloud, turning back to the window to look at Violet again.
“Ha! She’s good, but someone is always better. Eventually someone will be better than her,” Penny assured. “It’s just the way it works. She doesn’t even try to get better.”
“I think you’re better,” Chris complimented. “Seriously, you’re a badass.”
Penny’s face flushed a bright pink. She seemed surprised, and Chris could tell she was caught off guard. She stared at him for a moment before smiling. She pressed the button to release the hatch and sat up in her seat. Penny seemed rather thankful for this comment, and he thought she appeared more confident.
One of the mechanics brought over a white ladder and rested it on the right side of the plane. Chris climbed down first. Penny crossed over to his side and climbed down next. She nudged him as if to say ‘thanks.’ They began to walk toward the crowd of pilots that had gathered together. They appeared to be celebrating already.
“I hate to say it, but Penny and her partner may have saved my ass. I didn’t see that plane at all in the clouds. And then there was a second one on top of that,” said one male pilot. He had blonde hair, green eyes, a small beard, and appeared to be 29. “Guys that prototype plane does wonders!”
“I’ll say,” Ian replied. He was wearing a black t-shirt, jeans, and black shoes. “They were all like zoom and bang! Bang! And Vwoooosh!” he exaggerated as he moved his hands along to the movements.
Megan began to laugh at her partner’s theatrics. She was wearing a green long-sleeved shirt, skinny jeans, and white shoes. She shook her head and hit him in the arm to get him to stop.
A man wearing a black military uniform, a black beret with the Alliance bird symbol on it, and combat boots was approaching them. His had two holsters forming an X shape across his chest. He also had a lit cigarette in his hand. He looked to be in his late forties or early fifties. He cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention. He took the cigarette up to his lips for a moment before exhaling a puff of smoke. Then he spoke.
“I want to thank every last one of you for your service just now. That was at a moment’s notice,” he started. “Pennelopie. Christopher. You weren’t authorized, but I thank you as well. I’ll be doing everything in my power to get you both under my command. That was the best flying I’ve ever seen. More kills than the average pilot. Pennelopie?”
“Y-yes sir?” Penny exclaimed.
“You flew for the Empire, didn’t you?” he guessed. “Our spies told us you did. I didn’t think much of it until now.” Penny began to lower her head in shame. “I’m astounded. I want you to fly for us. Your partner too.”
“S-Sir?” Penny questioned, perplexed.
“But sir she’s a--” one pilot began; he stepped forward. He had greying hair, a small mustache, and a beard.
“Is she a good pilot?” the man cut him off. “It’s not about what she is or where she came from. She just saved some of your hides. More than that she’s done more for the Alliance than some people hope to.”
“But still-- the higher ups would never agree,” the pilot tried again.
“If those suits won’t listen to their highest ranked General then they’re foolish. I’ll be attending that damn hearing,” he replaced his cigarette between his lips and pushed it to the side as he spoke again. “And I’ll have some words. This is ridiculous. Girl like this shouldn’t lose her partner,” he muttered. “Foolishness.”
“But aren’t you mad we stole a prototype?” Chris was very puzzled.
“Not one bit. You put it to good use so I’m making it yours. You damn well deserve it,” he praised. “But the mechanic who works on this plane might have your head over the damages.”
“Thank you, sir,” Penny beamed.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. You’ll both have to work hard. That doesn’t shy you away does it?” he extended his hand to both of them.
“Not one bit,” Penny said as she took his hand and shook it. Chris shook his hand next. The general had a very strong grip. Chris was always told that having a strong grip during a handshake was good, but he didn’t understand why. All he knew was that this general was a big deal and extremely high ranked. As he let go of the general’s hand he began to wonder just how much action he had seen.
Ian came over and threw his arms around Chris and Penny. He brought them both in close. All three of the began to laugh; Megan shook her head, but Chris could see she was smiling. He figured Megan just liked to seem intelligent, and she probably was, but she could still have fun like the rest of them.
“Tomorrow we’re going to make sure you and Chris stay partners! You guys are awesome,” Ian chucked.
“Yes, we will,” Megan agreed. “I’m not sure if we’ll be allowed to go, but we’ll be supporting you regardless.”
“You don’t think you can go?” Chris was curious if they could be there.
“I’m not sure, but regardless, you have many people supporting you,” Megan said encouragingly.
Chris smiled. Penny had people that cared about her, and that was enough for him. She actually seemed really happy; of course, Megan and Ian knew Penny already, but it was nice to know other people would be there for her. She seemed much different than when they had first met. He wasn’t sure what caused it, but he liked to think he had a part in it.
By now some of the pilots had come up to talk to Penny. They were shaking her hand or congratulating her. Even the one that had objected earlier. He didn’t seem as pleased as the others, but he had some matter of respect for Penny now. Not only was Penny an exceptional fighter and pilot, but she had the general back her up.
Chris’s smile dropped for a moment. He saw Hunter in the distance carrying something. He seemed to be in a hurry and was heading for the city. He appeared to be wearing a red shirt, a black jacket, and black leather combat boots. Chris couldn’t tell what he had in both of his arms, but it was obviously important. He was in a hurry.
Chris tugged on Ian’s arm as best he could. “I just saw Hunter,” he tried. Ian seemed too preoccupied to notice. Penny was deep in a conversation and Megan was inspecting her plane. Chris was in a hurry and so, he wasn’t really sure what he should do. He wasn’t sure if he would get the chance to catch Hunter again.
“Megan,” Chris called out to her as he ran over to her and attempted to pull her from the plane. Megan fought back a little and looked thoroughly confused.
“What are you doing?” she asked, looking completely lost.
“I just saw Hunter!” Chris tried frantically.
“What about him?” she questioned.
“I think he’s the traitor! Penny and I were supposed to keep an eye out for him!” he continued on.
Megan looked behind Chris and shook her head, “Chris he’s not there.” Chris turned back to see she was right. He was indeed gone. “But he was--”
“Chris listen, I really need to make sure our plane didn’t sustain any meaningful damage,” and with that Megan turned right back to what she was doing.
Forget it, Chris said internally as he ran off in the direction in which he had seen Hunter. Chris knew he was going toward the city, and that was all he needed. He would head in that direction until he saw him again. He
wanted to find Emily and that was exactly what he would do even without help.
Chris kept running until the airfield was much farther away than when he started. He still had not seen any sign of Hunter. A few moments passed before he saw him. He was nearing the city by now. He seemed to have slowed to a walk. Chris could roughly make out that the person he was carrying was female. Emily, he concluded. He figured Hunter must have had Emily.
Chris caught up to them, and Hunter reacted before he did. He turned back to see Chris and seemed relieved. He stopped walking and waited. He appeared as if he was panting, and was obviously on edge. He was sweaty and looked tired.
“Chris…” Hunter managed. “Help me with Emily she got hurt!” he was gasping for air.
“What happened?!” Chris demanded as he came over to check on Emily. He pushed her hair out of her face to see her unconscious. He immediately directed his attention to Hunter, giving him a hateful glare.
“We were outside of the city making sure no more wolf attacks could happen. I convinced her to come with me and find out where they were coming from. Before we even got to the forest,” he explained, stopping to catch his breath. “So, then we saw Imperial planes start attacking Alliance planes.”
“What happened?” Chris repeated.
“Emily got hurt during all of the chaos and one of the planes even crashed down. I tried helping the pilot and he got pretty far, but he died not far from his plane. I think he was trying to get back to the city on his own.”
“Alpha forty-seven is dead?” Chris seemed shocked.
“I guess that was his identification? I was going to ask him for help but when I rolled him over he had a huge wound across his face. I don’t have time to explain; I’m getting Emily back to the city for some aid.”
“Let me help,” Chris offered.
“Fine just come on,” Hunter said rather harshly as he jogged into the city.
They continued on for a few moments. Chris began to wonder if he had wrongly believed it was Hunter. He was a jerk, but he was a jerk that cared deeply about his sister. He didn’t seem to care that Chris was with him, he was so desperate to get Emily back to the city that he was willing to take any help. Chris felt kind of sick; it was hard seeing Emily like this. She didn’t have any visible injuries. Her wounds may have healed, but she looked vulnerable and that was something he was not used to. In fact, he could not recall the last time he ever saw her sleep, because she was always hard at work.
“We need to help her as fast as we can,” Chris reminded Hunter.
“Thanks Chris, but I know what’s best for her. Just hurry up,” Hunter shot back.
“I’m trying to help,” Chris argued.
“Is now the time?” Hunter asked angrily.
Hunter was still leading the way. Chris began to have even more doubts about Hunter being the traitor. He was trying to help Emily. He wasn’t wasting a single second to help her. He almost felt bad for Hunter. He got so much heat from everyone, but he was only ever trying to help. Chris considered apologizing for a moment.
“Sorry Chris,” he called back as he extended his hand and fired an extremely powerful blast of fire from his hand. The building beside Chris began to fall. Chris attempted to move, but the brown brick building was coming down too fast. He sprinted full speed forward after Hunter, but the building collapsed on top of him. He shielded himself as best he could.
Chris was now trapped under the destroyed building. He couldn’t free any part of his body. He didn’t hear anyone nearby but Hunter: meaning no one would be coming to help.
“Hunter!” Chris yelled out from under the rubble, slamming the back of his hand on the rubble above him angrily. He attempted to remove himself, but he was buried so deep that there was no way. On top of everything else, he felt a sharp pain in his gut. Something had impaled him when the building fell. Perhaps a part of the building had cut him, but he could feel himself bleeding badly. His body was healing slowly, but since he was also being crushed it couldn’t work as well and was struggling to keep up.
Chris attempted to free himself again, but he could feel himself getting weaker over time. He managed to free his arms. He then tried to use them to lift the rubble off. No luck. The watch, he remembered Emily had given it to him not long ago. She had said to use it to call for help in the case of emergencies, but he didn’t actually think he would need it. Chris lifted his right wrist up to where his eyes could see and began to fiddle with the device. In truth, he had not taken the time to learn how it worked yet, but he had to now.
The screen illuminated. An interface projected from the watch, and formed almost a holographic touch screen in front of him. He saw multiple names that Emily had entered into his contact list: Emily S., Penny D., Ian, Megan F., and Victoria D. Chris wasn’t sure who to call, he assumed they were all back at the airfield celebrating, or in Megan’s case working. Someone must have noticed he was gone, but he couldn’t take the chance. Chris wasn’t sure who to call, they were all very busy. The only one who he was sure saw him leave was Megan. Would she stop her work just to answer? He was in such a panic, and he felt so weak that he just pressed the first button that his left finger touched.
“Hello? Chris?” Megan’s voice answered loud and clear. “Where did you run off to? When I finished checking my plane, I turned to talk to you about it more but you were gone.”
“Megan...” Chris managed, trying to keep his words from slurring.
“What’s wrong? Where are you?” she sounded concerned now.
“Help…” he could hardly even hear his own plea.
“General Nick!” he heard Megan shout on the other end. “Penny! Your partner needs help!”
Megan must have hung up so Penny could call, because the call ended right as Penny’s name appeared on the interface as the watch began to go off. Chris tried to reach up to press the answer button, but he felt faint for a moment and unable to move. He didn’t pass out, but he couldn’t move very well, and probably needed to save energy. The watch continued to ring for a moment before going silent and going into sleep mode. Chris laid there attempting to keep himself calm and hoped that they would arrive in time.
Chris felt as if he had been waiting there for hours. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but he had begun to lapse in and out. He’d be fine one moment and then black out, and then wake up again. He began to hear people around him, but he didn’t think it was his friends. He didn’t recognize any voices. These people probably didn’t even know he was under the building, and more than likely they figured it was from the air attack. Chris did his absolute best to stay calm, but he could feel himself panicking, he wasn’t sure how much time he would really have.
“Are you sure he’s here?” Ian sounded close.
“I know he is, I tracked his watch,” Megan declared. “And Penny probably can sense him in danger.”
“Yeah but where is he in all of this mess?” Penny sounded worked up. “Find him please. Help me.”
“Chris? Can you hear us?” Megan called out. “Chris?”
“Chris!” Penny tried, “Ian if we find him we’ll need you.”
“I’ll get my buddy out,” Ian promised.
Chris relaxed a little, but it was hard to stay conscious. He continued to lapse in and out. Every time he came to he heard something different. He could hear them moving the bricks, but they weren’t close. How was he going to get their attention though? He was buried, and Penny couldn’t quite pinpoint where he was just yet with her magic.
He wasn’t going to die. Not only because he wanted to protect Penny and stay with his friends, but because he had to make Hunter pay and save Emily. Chris began to push as hard as he could with his right hand. His hand began to slip through some of the wreckage. He could feel his hand being cut by the sharp pieces, but he had to get their attention. His fast healing was starting to fail and time was short. His hand was just barely being healed of the cuts and bruises.
Chris stopped for a moment to
regain his strength as much as he could. He gave it one more good push. He had broken through and he could feel his hand in the fall breeze above. He winced, worn out. If he didn’t have adrenaline pumping he wouldn’t have been able to do that while injured.
“Over here!” he heard an unfamiliar male voice say. “Dig here!”
“Hurry Ian,” Penny urged. “Please...Please…”
Ian began to throw rubble left and right. Chris couldn’t see it, but he could hear it. He sounded like he was barely trying, and the others must have been helping him. Chris could see a little bit of light; however, it was still pretty far off. How long would it take? Hopefully not much longer. He felt faint.
Chris’s heart began to beat faster. He could hear it in his own ears. He had never felt this before. He couldn’t move and he could feel his breathing slowing against his will. He felt the weight on him disappearing as they continued to work. He wasn’t sure what was happening to him. Chris felt dizzy and almost hazy.
The rubble cleared. Penny moved over Chris and held his face. She then began to check him. Penny must have noticed the dire wound and tried to keep him talking. Chris didn’t hear most of what she said. She sounded so far away…
“Megan, heal him!” Penny pleaded.
“I can stabilize his wound, but he’s lost way too much--” Megan explained to Penny.
Chris didn’t hear the rest it went almost inaudible. He was struggling to keep his eyes open, and by now he was panicking. There was nothing he could do. Ian was keeping the crowd back, but he could only see him from the corner of his eye. Megan was trying to heal his wound so he didn’t bleed any further, his fast healing had finally failed.
“Don’t die...Please...please don’t die you’re scaring me,” Penny squeaked desperately. “You said you wouldn’t. Please…”
“Get back a little,” the unfamiliar male voice told Megan and Penny. They did. “Megan, is he stable?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m sure of it,” she reassured everyone. Even Megan sounded nervous.
Spellcrafter-Delta Page 19
