by Brian Savage
“Now do you understand what I mean by ‘collateral damage,’ Jackie Boy?” Cassie’s twisted voice matched the maniacal laughter that followed her sentence.
Jack gave into his rage and screamed into the microphone, “I swear on my life that if you harm one hair on that old man’s head, I will bring the entire Corporation down upon your goddamn head!” The laughing intensified, feeding Jack’s feeling of utter hopelessness.
“Come by the shop and get another of those cigars your love so much! Then we can really talk.” The laughing continued, until the mic went dead. Jack slammed the headset down on the armrest as hard as he could. He wanted to smash it into a million pieces, erase its existence from the face of the earth. Then, maybe he could pretend that the conversation hadn’t happened. He stood up and brusquely pushed past the pilot, who had long since returned from the restroom. Aeralyn followed him, hands under her arms, trying to protect them against the cold.
“Who was the man?” she asked quietly, not wanting to make Jack’s mood any worse.
“Probably the only friend I’ve ever had.” He looked at the hurt expression she quickly tried to hide and amended, “Besides you, hon.”
“What are we going to do?” she asked, looking up at Jack, standing in the middle of the plane, one hand on his hip, the other on the top of his head.
“I’m going back. I can get you another flight down to the Southern Conglomerate. It will be easier for you to hide there.” He bit his lip, hoping above all hopes that she wouldn’t say what he knew she would.
“I’m going with you,” she said emphatically.
“I can’t protect you AND get my friend out of this.” Jack brought his hand down from his head to mirror the other on the opposite hip. If they had been in a poster-covered bedroom, it would have looked like he was lecturing a teenage girl. “The best I can hope for is trading myself for you two.”
“Jack, they are going to terminate you! There has to be a way we can get him out.” Aeralyn squeezed her arms tighter, her knuckles turning white. Jack stepped toward her, towering over her, as he tried to control the misdirected anger in his voice.
“You aren’t going with me! I won’t have you sitting in a white-tiled termination room, waiting on some asshole who doesn’t know any better to put one through your fucking implant!” Jack didn’t do a very good job keeping his voice down.
Aeralyn held his eye contact and seemed more emboldened by his words than cowed. “I could say the same goddamn thing about you.” She pushed past him; he saw her eyes well up with tears as she grabbed her bag and headed for the back of the plane. “I’m going to change, and clean up. We need to think of a plan, and I can’t think when you’re yelling.”
Jack rubbed his face with both hands, exasperated and helpless. “Aeralyn, I don’t want you going. It probably isn’t going to turn out well.” His voice was octaves lower, begging.
“I heard what you said, but you aren’t an agent now, which means you can’t order me around like before, hon.” She smirked at him, the smile a stark contrast to the eyes full of tears. “Think of a plan, Mr. Ripley; my default plan is to walk in and kick the bitch right in the balls.” She spun around, bag in hand, and walked briskly to the bathroom. Jack chuckled in spite of the situation. He watched her disappear through the door in the rear of the plane, before plopping down in his seat.
The man in the coveralls appeared from the cockpit and stood quietly, waiting to be noticed. “We need to go back?” he asked, hands clasped together in front of him. “Didn’t mean to eavesdrop, just heard ya’ll shouting like an old married couple.”
Jack snorted at the figure of speech and figured that they probably would never get to be that old, bickering married couple. “Yeah, we need to go back.” He pondered their dilemma. “Is there somewhere we can land that’s near your airfield, but far enough out that we won’t be noticed?”
“Yes, sir, little road out in an abandoned solar farm,” the man said, nodding his head up and down, “’bout two miles from the strip.”
Jack nodded. “Sounds like the spot. Can we make it there with the fuel we have?”
“Should be able to. I’ll run the calculations again to be sure.” The man disappeared back into the cockpit, humming a tune to himself.
Jack clasped his hands in front of his face, one fist balled up in the palm of the other, as he pressed them against his lips in thought. He fell into his mindful breathing practice, as he closed his eyes and fanned the flame of an idea that had just emerged from a spark.
“Hey, do you have any parachutes?” he called into the cockpit.
Chapter 16
Jack stood in front of Aeralyn, tightening straps and tucking in loose ends. She looked frightened, despite her clenched jaw and slightly furrowed brow. “It’ll be okay. I’ll pull your chute for you; all you’ll have to do is hang on for the ride, and do your best to steer whatever way I go.” He smiled at her, trying to be reassuring.
She didn’t even look up at him. She was picturing in her mind jumping out of the aircraft, and the worst that could happen because of it. “Why would anyone jump out of a perfectly good aircraft?” she asked, more rhetorical than a serious question. “Is this punishment for wanting to go with you?”
“There are probably going to be agents all over the airstrip. We need them to think we are landing somewhere else. If they can use the radios that were supposedly obsolete, I am absolutely sure they can track us.” Jack pulled another length of electrical tape from the roll on the table, and rolled the end of a loose strap, taping it down. “And no, this isn’t punishment.”
“Then why don’t they just shoot us out of the sky or whatever?” She looked up from beneath her brow at Jack.
It was his turn to clench his jaw. He had already considered that possibility.
“I don’t know. However they want to spin what’s going to happen, it probably doesn’t fit, shooting us out of the sky.” He didn’t exactly believe his own explanation; if what Aeralyn had said before was even remotely true, they could do anything they wanted with impunity, and tell everyone the complete opposite and it would be believed. What does truth mean in a society like this? he thought to himself, before shaking off the profound, philosophical rabbit hole he didn’t need clouding his mind at the moment.
He focused on his task. It had been a long time since he had jumped out of an aircraft, and the pre-checks didn’t come back to mind as readily as he had hoped. Not to mention, the civilian set-up was much different than the one the military had designed to carry him, and all of his hundred and fifty pounds of gear, safely to the ground. He felt much less safe in straps that were thinner, and a harness that was smaller, but on the other hand, he knew this kit wasn’t made by the lowest bidder.
“You guys sure you wanna do this?” The man’s concern was audible in the way his voice wavered. “There’s gotta be a different way. The rain’s clearing up, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be bad over the airstrip. You don’t want to parachute through a thunderstorm, no, sir. Been a couple of years since I certified the chutes, mice might have gotten in there. I don’t—”
“Enough!” Jack interrupted the man, looking up from the terrified face of Aeralyn to the man in coveralls. “We are doing it. Regardless of what you think could go wrong, we will be fine. Just make sure you land at that road you mentioned before. DO NOT land on the airstrip. We want everyone there as far from my gasser as possible.”
The man nodded hesitantly.
“Sorry.” Jack regretted raising his voice. “Thank you for doing this. I appreciate the risk you’re taking.”
The man smiled bashfully. “No worries, don’t think they will suspect anything. Most city folks don’t pay me too much mind. Suspect I’m some sort of hillbilly idiot. Joke’s on them.” He winked at the pair, before disappearing back into the cockpit.
Jack turned his attention back to Aeralyn. “Squat down,” he ordered, pulling the straps across the top of her thighs tight as she did as she was
told.
“That’s really tight,” she said, wincing slightly. She walked back and forth a few paces at a time, trying to get used to the harness.
“You don’t want it loose when the shoot opens up,” Jack explained to her. “If it’s loose, you’ll have to pick it out of your ass when you hit the ground; worse, you’ll free-fall as you watch your harness floating safely above you.” He smiled in amusement but quickly changed his expression when he saw the serious expression on Aeralyn’s face.
“We are almost to the airstrip. You’re gonna wanna see this so you are sure when to jump,” the man called over his shoulder from the cockpit, the engines threatening to drown out his words. Jack squared down and tightened his own straps across his hips and legs, before making his way into the cockpit.
“Okay, I’m gonna make a slow pass over the east side here,” the man said, pointing to the left side of the airstrip’s lights. At their current distance, Jack could just make them out, what the man was trying to show him through the rivulets of water that coursed over the windshield. “It’ll make it look like I’m passing so I can land in the wind. I’ll keep low, and far enough off the strip so the lights won’t catch ya when you drop.” Turbulence gently rocked the aircraft. “I’ll swing back around quick and make an attempt to land before pulling up and heading off to that spot I told you about.”
“How will we jump?” Jack asked, completely forgetting, until now that the jump loomed ever closer, that the cabin door did not open in flight.
“This baby’s got a tail ramp,” he said, stroking the top of the instrument panel fondly. “I’ll open her up when I think you should jump, and close her up before I make the fake landing pass.”
Jack nodded. It could work, he thought with hope. He placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and gave a gentle squeeze. “Thanks.”
“George. My name’s George,” the older man said, looking up at Jack.
Jack extended his hand from the man’s shoulder and shook his hand. “Thanks, George,” he said, nodding.
“Not a problem, just doing my part to stick it to the government.” George chuckled to himself. “Better get back there, though; we are getting close.”
Jack turned around and followed Aeralyn into the cabin of the aircraft. He grabbed her bag and stuffed it in his duffle, putting it on his chest and strapping it down as tight as possible. “You ready?” he asked her quietly.
Her breathing was steady, but he could tell it was a bit faster than usual. She nodded to him without saying anything. He nodded back and made his way to the rear of the plane, past the latrines and through what looked like a cargo bay. In the middle of the floor, there were two metal railings, appearing almost out of place, lined on all four sides by what was nearly an imperceptible crack. “You first,” he said, pointing to the far end of the railings. She gripped the railings as she walked between the two slick metal bars. Once they got to the end, Jack turned her to face him.
“Hold on to me, as tight as you can.” She hugged him, surprising him with strength that didn’t match her small frame. Jack located both of their pull cords, his on his right, and hers on his left. He gripped the metal railing behind Aeralyn, steadying them as more turbulence buffeted the small craft. He placed his lips down on the top of her head, not as a kiss, but to savor the closeness of her body to his. He felt her relax a bit at the touch of his lips. She took a deep breath.
In an instant, the floor dropped six inches beneath their feet. Jack’s hands gripped the railing tighter as Aeralyn’s grip constricted around his middle. The initial drop, a result of the door unlatching, was the exception to the slow movement of the ramp as it came open, exposing them to the blasting wind and driving rain. They felt the ramp shake. Not made to open in flight, the motor of the ramp struggled hard against the buffeting wind. Jack was grateful that they were currently flying with the wind, unsure of the ramp’s survival in a headwind. Jack watched the lights of the airstrip zip by. He knew if he didn’t jump soon, they would already be past the airfield. Without another thought, Jack let go of the railing. He wrapped both hands around their pull cords and fell sideways out the back of the aircraft, waiting a mere second before pulling their chutes.
Aeralyn’s chute deployed first, ripping her away from him, breaking her grip on his chest. He caught the terrified look on her face right before he felt his own chute deploy, and his sudden fall was stopped dead by his harness. He tried to keep an eye on Aeralyn, even as he surveyed the quickly approaching ground below for a good spot to land. The darkness was near total in the slow drizzle of rain. Only a small amount of ambient light made its way through the haze of water and fog from the airstrip, which Jack could now see was lit by the headlights of multiple gassers.
He did his best to steer his way toward a small clearing in the shrub cedar trees. He lost sight of Aeralyn as they fell, his added weight making him fall faster than she did. As his legs brushed the tops of the cedars, he relaxed his body as best he could. Catching his first foot on the ground, he leaned back, pulling hard against his chute while simultaneously running with it. It pulled him with the wind before becoming entangled in a short locust tree. He quickly started loosening straps and undoing the clips to the harness as he looked up and tried to find Aeralyn in the darkness.
He caught a glimpse of her as she shot over his head, and through the tree in front of him. He heard a pained grunt, the snapping of branches, and a loud thud. Shedding the harness and flipping the duffle around from his chest to his back, he headed forward through the trees to locate her. He didn’t have to go far when he found her tangled-up chute stretched between three different shrubby trees, and the dazed Aeralyn tangled up in a mess of parachute cord.
“You okay?” Jack whispered, as quietly as his worry would allow.
Not immediately responding, Aeralyn just looked up at Jack and shook her head. He couldn’t tell if it was a “no” to his question, or she was just trying to clear the stars she was probably seeing. He knelt beside her. She had a bruise on her cheek beneath a small cut that dripped blood. He pulled the sleeve of his shirt over his palm and gingerly applied pressure. With his other hand, he began untangling her from the mess of cord and harness straps.
Jack heard the plane making its pass over the runway, but he didn’t bother to turn to look, knowing the view was obscured by the trees that they now were level with. He took the hand from her now crusted over face and was able to finally free her from the tangle. He stood, helping her to her feet, when all at once, an explosion behind him rent the air. He immediately threw himself over Aeralyn and both crashed to the ground as the shockwave buffeted the trees and tall grass around them, followed by a massive wave of heat. Jack rolled off of Aeralyn, propping himself up on an elbow as he looked back toward the airstrip. He saw more ambient light, added by the wreckage of what he knew was the small plane. Aeralyn began to cry from where she lay, rolling closer to Jack and hiding her face in his chest. He wrapped an arm around her, comforting her as his rage threatened to boil over yet again.
Time passed slowly. Aeralyn laid in Jack’s arms, completely still. Jack wiped her face. She hadn’t moved since the plane exploded, hadn’t wanted to open her eyes to the cruel world. The cruel reality was that the man who had helped them escape the same fate he had suffered, was killed for associating with them. It was the first time she had felt a guilt like that. Guilt that had been responsibility, responsibility for the action that led to the outcome. She had sobbed against Jack’s chest at first. Now, no tears fell. She wasn’t sure if she had any left.
She clung to Jack in those moments, clinging to the last bit of hope she had that, somehow, they could escape the Host. Somehow, they both could get out of this unscathed. She didn’t hope to fight the Host. She simply clung to the one thing she had left, and hoped beyond all hopes that they could get far enough away that they could live and let live.
Jack likewise held her. He held on to her as the only real thing he had ever known. He couldn’t leave the
old man. He knew that, from deep within himself, a self he questioned now at every turn. He knew that it was not in him to leave the old man to his fate. He would take the girl with him, out of necessity and selfishness—necessity being he was the only person he could trust with her safety, selfishness being that he didn’t want her with anyone else anyway.
Jack watched the lights above the treetops. He watched as the flickering light of the fire that had been the plane died down, and the steady beam of headlights swung around the tops of the trees. He assumed they would check the wreckage to confirm the number of bodies, but based on the size of the explosion, decided no one would believe they could find three whole ones anyway. He waited for the lights to die down, indicating vehicles moving away, and hoped beyond all hopes that the old man had not simply been executed. He had no reason to believe he hadn’t, and based on everything he had learned about the Host, it was a distinct possibility.
He shook Aeralyn, unsure if she was asleep or if she was just lying that still. She lifted her face from against his chest, and nodded at him, indicating she was ready. He gave her a reassuring smile, realizing again how fond he was of this near-stranger, who trusted and followed him without question. She stood, pressing herself off of him, and stretched her arms up over her head, limbering up from the long, and at times uncomfortable, way they had been lying in silence.
He stood and did the same, double- and triple-checking himself for anything on his body that could make sound as he moved. He tapped his ear and motioned over himself to Aeralyn, hoping she understood what he meant. She nodded assent and spun in a quick circle silently. Jack nodded approval, and turned back in the direction of the airfield.
He began a slow creep through the trees, moving left and right as they zig-zagged their way forward through the cedars and the shrubs. The light from the strip grew brighter and lit their path the further they went. Jack halted them when the light became too bright for his liking. He laid down on the ground, indicating for Aeralyn to do the same, and began the journey anew.
