SLIVKO
"So, y'all ready for your first chopper ride?" Chapman inquires, referring to the flight from Athena to the island. I glance back at Miss Weaver and Delilah walking alongside the Major.
"It's not my first," Miss Weaver replies, a smug grin shaping on her lips. Word around the ship is that Miss Weaver took a trip to Saigon to take some photographs during the war. The fact that she's been to 'Nam makes her so much cooler to all us guys than she was before, being a lady journalist and all.
"Oh, right," Chapman grins back, a look of subtle admiration in his eyes. "This ain't your first time on a mission."
"Nope."
"How about you, Miss Delilah? You ready?"
My head jerks around involuntarily at the mention of her name.
"Um," she thinks. "I guess I have to be, right?" Her eyes wander up from the deck to me, staring at her, and for a moment she's caught in my gaze like a deer in headlights.
After reregistering that we ended our conversation on somewhat rotten terms, she sneers a bit at me, but I can tell she's forcing it. The corners of her lips are turning up in amusement as if we're playing some funny game.
I can't help but grin at Lilah's stubbornness as I turn away, trying to hide the fact that she is honestly the most interesting thing going on in my life right now. I've been at war a whole year, and I haven't seen a girl about my age since I was drafted right after I'd turned 18.
"Slivko," Chapman calls from behind.
"Yessir?" I reply, turning on my heels to face him. My hand jerks up from my side in a nearly-forgotten solute.
"Miss Weaver & her niece'll be ridin' with you, how bout that?"
"Sounds good, sir."
Chapman dismisses my solute and turns back towards the ladies. "Slivko here'll take good care of you two, I promise."
Delilah sighs, and Chapman rests his hand on her shoulder. Not gonna lie, I'm a li'l bit jealous of the Major.
"You'll be just fine. I promise you."
Something in her eyes flickers, and for a moment, she seems completely vulnerable. Vulnerable to his touch, vulnerable to the words, vulnerable to everything. Like the ocean breeze I've become so accustomed to could just blow her away, across the deck, and right into the sea. I don't think anyone else notices this but me, because next thing Chapman is patting her shoulder, and then Mason's, and then he nods at me.
Chapman moves on, looking for Mills, or Cole or someone I suppose. I can't help but grin knowing I'll get to be the one to fly Lilah.
"Err, um. So, I'll be your pilot today, it seems," I say to the ladies, trying to seem confident in my abilities. Not of flying the copter, of course. I've done that hundreds of times within the past year since I'd been deployed. It's the lack of confidence in my lady-wooing skills that worries me.
"That's good to know," Miss Weaver smiles at me. "Isn't that right, Del?" she asks, nudging her niece.
"Splendid," Delilah replies, scrunching her nose at me.
I wink at her, trying to throw her off her game. She blushes a bit, and I can't help but laugh.
"Hey now, I might not be the smoothest pilot, but I have the baddest sounds. I got some Creedence, the Stones, Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Sabbath.. the works."
"Black Sabbath, huh?" Lilah smirks. "Not bad, Bandana."
"Bandana? Choosing nicknames for me now, huh?"
"Don't get too full of yourself –Bandana was Mason's idea. I just think it's fitting enough."
"You keep telling yourself that, Miss Writer Lady."
"That's a horrible comeback."
Dammit, I know.
"Well.."
"Well?" she asks.
I shrug her off, and Lilah smirks in satisfaction.
I lead her and Mason towards the chopper I'll be co-piloting and climb into the cockpit with ease. Buckling into the pilot's seat, I turn around to see Lilah sandwiched between her Aunt Mason and the tracker, Conrad. She's got her arms crossed and is rolling her eyes at Mason.
"I have to be on this side," Mason argues. "To take pictures."
"Uh huh, yeah."
"Besides, you know you're too scared to sit on the outside anyways."
I catch Delilah shoot a glare at Mason in the rear view mirror. "Nuh, uh.." she mutters.
Then she glances at my reflection, and we both avert our gazes when they clash in the mirror. It's kind of really cute, the way she tries to hide her nervousness – There's no use fighting my thoughts anymore, Delilah is honestly so up my alley. What the hell does that even mean, up my alley?"
"Don't worry," I say, putting on my headset. "This'll be fun, you'll see. But make sure you buckle up."
"That's real assuring," I hear her mutter under her breath – Mason nudges her.
Out of the corner of my eye I catch Lilah rolling her eyes at me again, but the corners of her mouth loosen just a bit into the slightest smile – so small I barely notice. She clicks on her belt.
Thatta girl.
Eventually, we're cleared for take off.
As soon as we're up in the air, Mason begins her work. She takes a couple shots of the chopper and it's passengers, myself included. As we close in on the black wall of clouds wherein beyond lies our destination, I warn everyone to make sure they're secure. Conrad and Weaver grip the bars on the side of the chopper, and Lilah looks like she might faint.
Focus. Eye on the sky, buddy.
"Let's do this," Colonel Packard radios.
"Dear Billy," I hear Mills say. "You ever looked into a hurricane and decide, maybe I should fly straight through it?" As he speaks, purple lightning thunders through the black mass, cracking between the dark clouds. I gotta admit, I've never seen anything like it.
"Dear Billy," Cole chimes. "You might wanna hang on." Moments later, the choppers are lost in a sea of gray debris. I keep my hands locked on the controls, steering straight onward. I wonder how long this will last. Radio static takes over my headset as we break connection with Athena.
After what seems like hours, although it's probably only been a minute or so, the nose of the chopper breaks through the last of the storm into the bright, yellow sun.
I glance at Delilah in the mirror once more to see her eyes wide, but smile growing in relief. Mason pats her knee, as if to say "See? We're alright."
The squadron rounds set off cliffs that border a ravine below. As we break out from between the cliffs, a flock of seagulls – no, some other type of bird I can't place – fill the sky. They part as the choppers fly towards them, making way.
All around, the sun shines, and soon we're flying over trees and valleys, which is a nice change of scenery from the seemingly endless sea we'd charted for days.
As much as the island was a pain to reach, I must admit, it's absolutely breathtaking.
"Hey, uh, would one of you mind turnin' the dial on that stereo back there?" I ask. Lilah eyes me, curiously, as I glance back at my passengers over my shoulder. Conrad is the one closest to the stereo, so he turns the dial up, and the music begins to spin: Paranoid, by Black Sabbath.
Lilah grins to herself, and glances up to my reflection in the mirror. Catching her gaze, I give her a cheeky wink. She rolls her eyes.
Colonel Packard radios for the squadron to split up. A couple minutes after, I can hear what sounds to be missiles or bombs of some sort. Someone mentions seismic tests over the static, and I relax, dismissing it. Hearing those sounds kinda brings back a lot of stuff I wish I'd forget.
"INCOMING!" Someone yells, their call screeching with static in my headset. "LOOK OUT!!!" The cry is followed by the sound of an explosion, up-close-and-personal, and more static. To my left, I see puffs of smoke and orange clouds sink down towards the tree-line, rapidly.
Someone went down.
All of a sudden, the radio is wild with voices and commands, panic, and confusion. Straight ahead, a giant shadow rises from the jungle, silhouetted by the sun. It grows taller and taller, until it reaches hundreds of feet higher than the highest-flying chopper.
"Is that a monkey?" I hear Chapman ask over the radio.
Holy shit. It's a giant fucking gorilla.
The squadron heads straight on towards the colossal ape, and I follow suit. No way I'm gonna be the only ones to chicken out now. Besides, I'm too paralyzed to do anything but keep a tight grip on the controls anyways.
Next thing I know, someone's opened fire on the the creature and now he's fighting back. All it takes is one fell swoop of it's hairy arm to knock the next chopper out of the sky.
Everywhere I look, the squadron's being hit, dropping like flies. At any moment, it could be us crashing towards the ground, or combusting into flames on impact.
I look back to the gorilla to find his giant, moon-sized eyes fixated on me.
Ohhh shit.
"Everybody hold on!" I yell. "Brace yourselves!"
The giant gorilla's fist collides with the tail of my chopper, sending it into a whirlwind of chaos, debris, and smoke. We're going down, and all I can do is squeeze my eyes shut and hold on for dear life before the world fades to black.
//
Holy crap, guys. Long time, no see. I hope you enjoy this chapter, the next one is already 3/4s done – I just kept getting too bored to finish this one. Oops.
– autumn