Broken Wings

Survival

I coughed and retched between the miniscule breaths I was able to manage, each one just a bit fuller than the last. I wasn't detached anymore; no, now I was terrified of the yawning black abyss before me and desperate to drive it back. I'm ALIVE, and I won't die here! I won't just give up! At last, as I drew the first full breath of my new life and my vision began to return, the void diminished into a shadow and withdrew, though it promised me it wasn't going far.

I blinked a few times and looked around the blurry forest through my streaming eyes. I croaked out a wordless plea for help before the pain from my fall seared back into my limbs. I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on drawing one agonizing breath after another. Then my mind began to go black again. I fought for a moment, fearing death was already back to claim me, but I soon recognized this oblivion as the peaceful embrace of sleep. I gladly surrendered to it and was out in seconds.

When I woke, the sky was dark, the forest was raucous with the calls of nocturnal creatures, and I gritted my teeth as the pain of my injuries returned once again. For whatever reason though, it didn't seem quite as intense as it was earlier. It still hurt like hell, but I found I could actually think through it, unlike before. So with no clear reason to rush, I took thorough stock of my situation.

I was still strapped to the chair that carried me here. Even in the darkness, I could see the path of carnage I carved through the trees on my way down. I gingerly moved one limb after another to discover where my injuries were and grimaced as I felt sharp stabbing in my left arm and both of my legs that probably meant breaks. I carefully rolled my head around and shifted my back, then sighed with relief as no new pains announced themselves there. So at least I'd managed to avoid spinal damage. My back did hurt, but it was a dull throb all along my spine compared to the white-hot points in my limbs. Probably compression damage, which was unsurprising considering how violent ejection seats were. My head didn't hurt, and my thoughts seemed clear enough. That, and the fact that I'd woken up at all, gave me some confidence that my helmet had protected me from a major concussion. I carefully took a deep breath and coughed a few times as several jagged lines of fire traced themselves around my ribs and a scratching, ticklish sensation filled my lungs. I definitely had at least a few cracked ribs, and I guessed that both of my lungs suffered a partial collapse during the fall. I was able to breathe, but not deeply. I had no idea if that meant my lungs were still kind of collapsed, or if that's how they were supposed to feel after suffering such a trauma. Finally, I could feel faint tingles, throbs, and pressures all over my body that should have been painful if they weren't being drowned by the blaring agony of my broken bones. I squinted at a few of the spots these feelings corresponded to, trying to make out enough details in the dark to figure out what they were. Torn fabric maybe? I felt around with my functional right arm and confirmed my suspicion: I was covered in scrapes, gashes, and bruises from falling through the tree canopy. No serious bleeding though. All in all, not bad, considering...

I shook my head and shuddered at the memory. But then I chuckled a bit. The chuckle grew into a half-hearted laugh, then before I knew it I was howling with mad, full-bodied laughter at the sheer, uncanny, absurdity of it all. I'd ejected from a burning aircraft thousands of feet above the ground, fallen without a parachute, crashed through God only knew how many trees, and skidded at least fifty feet over rocks and roots and thorns, and I lived. I'm alive! How crazy was that? How hilarious was that?!

Eventually, I got control of myself when my chest threatened to send me into another fit of coughing. I let out one final chuckle, and then I refocused on the immediate tasks of survival. Item number one, time to get out of this damned chair. Ejection seats are supposed to release the pilot as the main parachute deploys, but mine malfunctioned and never even deployed the pilot chute. Lucky me. I started to release my restraints and felt grateful that I could fully use my right arm, because even moving my left one at the elbow was enough to trigger severe pain. I could slowly open and close my left hand but that was pretty much it. These breaks were going to be a real issue if I was stuck out here for more than a few hours.