Crash

5: They'll be back right?

He chuckled and said casually "Thank you for your consideration and choice. Ya hear that boys? No gossiping, it'll get you killed."

The men around us stiffened reasonably.

"Bastard," I mumbled.

"Heard that," Richard grinned.

"Sir, we're nearing the site they want us to overlook," The pilot said.

The doors opened and we strained against the belts to look at the Rocky terrain. I didn't understand why some people like to live in places like this. There was dirt everywhere, with wild animals and all that gunk. I preferred the sophistications of the city.

"This is one of the most remote part of the Rockies," Someone said.

"So they want us to stare at a bunch of rocks?" I asked in a bored tone.

"Yes, and look for any trace of the plane your daughter took. "

"Step daughter. I wouldn't even call her that," I spat.

"Well that's weird," Richard mumbled.

We turned our whole attention to the side of a mountain. A white speck sat on a small ledge.

"Circle in closer," Richard commanded.

The pilot went lower and closer.

"It's the plane!" A guy exclaimed.

I gasped and took out some binoculars that were hanging from the seat. Peering out of them, I looked closer at the plane.

"There is no way they survived that," I grinned, checking the crunched plane.

"The rear is missing. Most likely tore away and fell down to the valley," Richard said excitedly.

The first half of my plan had worked!

"Pilot, back to the station. To everyone's concern here, we saw nothing. We must make everyone under the expression that they have totally disappeared. As long as David believes his daughter is alive, he will be occupied," I said happily.

Richard ordered his men to say nothing. They wondered if we should dip down towards the valley more but what did they expect to find? The plane crashed, we didn't need a closer look.

The pilot swiveled back around and started to head back. This was perfect, we will say we covered miles of this site and saw nothing. Good thing this place was so remote, it was like good luck for me.

I chuckled and squirmed in my seat.

"Happy?" Richard chuckled.

"Oh yes. Very," I smiled a real smile, ignoring the looks Richards men gave me.

We came back to the station and David hurried out onto the landing deck.

"Anything?" He asked over the sound of the helicopter powering down.

I shook my head, faking sadness. Looking at the others, I saw the same solemn looks.

Richard did have his dogs well trained.

Going back into the building, other groups began to filter in. They looked tired and were all unsuccessful, marking off their places on a map. David sat on a chair heavily and sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Aw cheer up darlin'.  There's still more ground to cover," I said, trying to keep him occupied.

"How far did y'all search?" The chief asked.

"Around forty miles about the site you sent us to," I lied quickly.

He nodded and sat at his desk.

"C'mon, there's still places to look," I said cheerfully.

The men looked at me warily. All of them tired and hopeless, just how I wanted them. I was going to run them into the ground with this.

After a while, Lyra will just become a lost case.

"Alright boys, more places to look. Get hopping and find that girl," I said energetically with a grin.

"You think we can find her?" David asked sorrowfully.

"Most definitely," I lied, and marked a big, red X across the place we found the plane.

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Lyra-

I was gutting a fish, something I was getting sick of, when I heard a faint buzzing noise. The noise became louder, and closer.

I poked my head out of my cave. The hell is that? I thought.

Looking up, I saw a dark dot. It circled around the crash site for a few seconds. It registered in my mind that it was a helicopter.

Dad came for me!

I scrambled out of my cave and hurried down the side of the mountain. Which was hard, I was tripping and tumbling everywhere. When I reached the valley, I waved my arms wildly, screeching as loud as I could.

"HEYYYYY! HERE, OVER HERE!! HELP!" I screamed, straining my voice.

The helicopter turned swiftly and started in the opposite direction. My heart dropped to my stomach.

I tried to scream harder until my throat was raw. How did that not see my S.O.S sign? How did they not see me?

Much to my despair, the helicopter started to fade into the clouds and soon, noise and all, it was gone.

Depressed beyond belief, I plopped down on the rough pebbles and just stared at the spot the helicopter disappeared. Silent, hot tears poured down my face. They didn't see me. I should've had a huge signal fire, but I thought the giant S.O.S sign on the creek bank would've worked perfectly.

Surely they'd come back for Marcus's body, and mine if they figured I was dead. I wiped my tears, they'll be back. They had to. 

They'll definitely come back, I thought.