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Part 3 on the third day in a row! I’m glad I’ve been able to stick to the schedule so far and I’m interested to hear your thoughts on the story. So read on quickly and let me know!
By Max Masen
A war is brewing. Can you feel it?
John straps on a parachute pack and so do Tim and Julie. Julie appears almost reluctant upon tightening the straps. Tim notices and slides closer to her and helps her put the pack on her back. “It's alright,” he says soothingly. “In and out. That's all this mission is.”
“I know,” Julie replies. She feels that she’s just overreacting but can’t bring herself to calm her breathing. “It’s just-”
Julie is abruptly cut off by the pilot announcing, “It looks like our cover is just about blown. We’ve intercepted transmissions saying the local air base has scrambled fighters and they’re inbound for us. We’re going to let you three off sooner than expected.”
“What?!” John yells rabidly. “We’ll never make it to Virginia! We’re not even out of Georgia!”
Tim grabs John’s shoulder and thrusts him to the emergency exit door on the side of the plane. “It’s time.” Two men dressed in black gear covering the extent of their bodies from head to toe step forward and put their hands on the latch of the emergency exit door. They grip it with one hand each and with their other hands they give a thumbs up to Tim, Julie, and John. The three of them exchange glances and fix their packs accordingly and make one last check to ensure all of their equipment is in place. Camouflaged outfits cover their bodies and two packs rest on their backs: one for the parachute and reserve and the other pack for equipment to last them the duration of the mission. Once they’ve finished securing their gear, they give the two men thumbs up and the men lift the lever on the door and the air from outside of the plane starts to feel like a vacuum. John steps forward and grips the side of the door. He looks down below but the dark shrouds the sight of everything down below. Nothing can be seen save a few darkened clouds. He looks to the side and sees two approaching fighter jets. His heart sinks and he takes the hint and leaps from the plane. He feels his speed pick up at an almost unbearable rate but then he feels it level off. He takes a quick look above and sees that Tim jumped second and that Julie was close behind.
John cancels out the noise of the air around him and begins to feel at peace. He puts all of the thoughts of the coming war out of his mind and clears it completely. He no longer feels that he is falling at an incomprehensible rate but instead invites the notion in that he is floating down to Earth slowly, as if there might not be a need to deploy the parachute. He closes his eyes in the serene moment. It should end right here. I need to learn when to admit that I’ve made a mistake. I shouldn’t have pressured Marley. This is all going to be my fault.
John’s mind is suddenly spiraled back into the here and now. An explosion hundreds of feet above him sounds off and he takes a quick glance up. The plane that carried them is disintegrating and one last transmission goes through: “Bring him back home safe.” Debris floats all around and some of it rockets down to John quickly and hits the Earth before he does.
It already isn’t worth it. Is Peter’s life any more valuable than those people that just perished on that plane? I can’t justify this to Marley. I can’t justify this to myself....
“Don’t think about it,” John hears Tim say quietly through his earpiece. “They knew the risks. But it’s time to deploy the parachutes. Julie, you’re the highest up so you first.” Julie pulls on the chord and the parachute opens up abruptly and levels off her descending. “Now me.” Tim pulls on his chord. “John, before you hit the ground, you may want to consider joining in the fun.” John, distraught and lost in thought, finally comprehends what Tim is saying and complies. He pulls on his chord and it explodes into the air above and jerks on his body. The speed he falls at now feels almost like he’s stopped completely, almost like time has stopped.
John breaks through the clouds and can finally see the ground beneath him. He almost feels relief but a gust of wind cuts off any good feelings just in time to blow him closer to a tree canopy. He wiggles his legs around to help push him in the other direction but it’s no use. The wind is too strong and any effort he expends almost seems to detract from progress and pushes him further in the direction he wants to stay away from. John, without any thought, withdraws from fighting the wind and says, “I’m going in.” He braces his body and within moments the canopy gets closer and his body pushes through the layers of branches and leaves. He finds himself stuck halfway through, his legs dangling in plain view but the rest of his body hidden by the branches.
“John, I’ve landed on the ground,” Julie reports through the earpiece. “I understand you had some… trouble landing.” John can hear reserved laughing through the earpiece from both Tim and Julie. “Just tell us where you are.”
“Yeah, laugh it up,” John replies. “No need to tell you guys. I uploaded a tracker on your phones. Just follow it to me and I guess we can use me as a rendezvous point.”
“Good plan, John,” Tim chimes in through the earpiece. “How did going through the tree feel?”
“Hurts less than you’d like…” John looks down and picks out branches from his clothing and throws them down below. “But more than you’d hope.”
It’s not brewing. It’s already come. It’s already found us. Run. Hide. It’s here.
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