On The Mountain

CHAPTER 2

Lane woke suddenly when he heard the co-pilot cuss and the pilot told him to shut his mouth. The plane was pitching back and forth, being thrown around like a piece of paper trying to float to the ground in a heavy wind. The door to the cockpit was open so he could hear what was going on easy enough.

The copilot was talking loudly and a person could tell he had lost all his composure. He was scared to death and Lane figured the pilot was too, but she was obviously handling things a whole lot better.

"Shut up and help me," she shouted, "I"m going to try and turn back."

Lane hollered asking," what"s wrong?"

"Bad electrical storm or something," was all she said.

He sat back in his chair and pulled his seat belt tight. They were in trouble he knew and enough had been said.

Looking over at the other passengers he saw that they were doing the same as he was. Belts tight and pure fear on her face.

He felt the plane twist and jerk and heard the engine screaming. Everything seemed magnified by at least three times in the panic and listening to what was being said he was well aware of the trouble they were in.

We"re losing altitude she was saying and I can"t hold it. My instruments aren"t working correctly and you"re just sitting there staring at nothing. Snap out of it and help me she was saying trying as hard as she could to keep the plane under control.

It was to no avail, the copilot was out in left field somewhere, fear had overtaken him and turned him into a zombie or something.

Lane heard her cuss then felt the plane hit something with a terrible crunching sound. Then it lifted up and came back down with the same crunching sound again. He felt cold air hitting him and debris flying everywhere.

Everything was spinning and coming apart but for the most part they seemed to be staying flat and upright. He thought to himself that they must"ve hit the ground somewhere, skipping across the surface.

He was guessing, but as fast as everything had started it seemed to stop almost as fast.

He sat there in his recliner for what seemed like an eternity. Unbelieving was the least of what he was thinking.

At first, he just thought about himself, but nothing hurt and he didn"t know if that was good or bad. He moved his head from side to side before raising his arms. Then, looking at his hands he made a fist and worked his fingers just checking one thing at a time for any pain plus to see that everything was still working.

Then he proceeded to check his legs, feet, toes, and every other part of his body. Everything seemed to be okay.

Unbelievable he told himself as he slowly got up and looked around. There was snow, pieces of tree limbs, pine needles, twisted metal, and trash in general thrown everywhere.

Looking into the cockpit he could see where the snow and debris had crashed right through the windows. The copilot"s head was twisted at such an angle that he could tell his neck was broken. The pilot"s arm was hanging lifelessly from her shoulder as she lay sideways over the arm of the pilot seat. This was a mess he could not believe.

He checked out his hunting buddies but nothing looked good. Bob, who sat on the opposite side of the plane from himself, had taken a side window in the throat where a tree limb had come through. He could tell that his throat was crushed, it was all black and pushed to the side, and his eyes were just staring.

Blake, who had been sitting behind Bob had received the full impact of the tree limb in the chest. It had gone straight through and was receding out his back.

Larry, who had been sitting behind Lane, was now gone. His chair had been torn loose and thrown into the back corner of the cabin. When Lane dug the snow and debris away he could tell that his head had taken a bad beating.

Checking for a pulse he found one. It was very weak but still, it was a pulse. He dug up some blankets and covered him up trying to do what he could for this new friend he had only met weeks earlier.

As he looked around trying to locate a first aid kit he felt Larry"s hand tighten around his. He was trying to say something so Lane put his ear closer and listened. Very weekly he said that it was great, and good luck. With that, he took a deep breath, held it for a second, and let it out slowly. It was his last.

Lane"s eyes watered as he took a deep breath himself and said goodbye my friend. It was a good hunt and great meeting you. He sat down wondering how the hell he had survived literally untouched.

As he sat there, he noticed that the lights were still on. For some reason, he started staring at the pilot"s hand hanging over the armrest of her seat when he suddenly realized that her fingers were twitching.

Actually moving a little, or was he just seeing things?