Page 2 of Red Rabbit
“It’s going to be a bumpy one folks,” the pilot said.
I glanced over at him but he didn’t seem concerned. In fact, he was busy eating sunflower seeds and spitting them out the half cocked window. I pulled my parka more snuggly around my neck at the frigid chill blasting into the cabin and tried to relax.
I must have dozed off because I woke up with a jolt and when I checked the clock, three hours had passed. There was nothing but partially snowy landscape as far as I could see but we were flying towards very ominous black clouds sitting around a mountain range. The plane dipped sharply and shuddered.
“Just a bit of weather,” the pilot said, although at some point he ditched the sunflower seeds and was now gripping the steering with both hands.
“That looks pretty bad,” the Marshal said.
I agreed with him.
“Nah, nothing this old bat hasn’t handled before. Should clear up once we get over the mountains anyhow,” the pilot said.
By the time we reached the foothills and started flying through the mountains, the wind was so strong the plane was dipping and listing constantly. My stomach was in knots and I could feel sweat dripping down my back. The anxiety was now full-blown fear and every time the craft dropped, my breath was stolen from me, leaving me dizzy. I risked a glance at the pilot and wished I hadn’t. Now even he looked nervous. Visibility was becoming a problem as the rain and sleet fell harder.
The plane dipped sharply to the left as the wind tore it from its course. A sickening sound of metal ripping filled the cabin and before I knew it, the forest was coming up to meet us at a rapid pace. The pilot fought with the steering, trying to gain altitude but whatever the plane hit had caused irreparable damage. Everyone started screaming at once.
I don’t think I was saying any words exceptohmygod, over and over again. The Marshal was yelling at the pilot and the pilot was yelling at everyone to shut the fuck up so he could concentrate.
The plane hit a ridge, sending shock waves up my spine and I felt myself bite my tongue, the metallic taste of blood hardly registered through my adrenaline. I watched the trees come for us and then we were flying through the top canopy. I stopped watching after that, shielding my face and curling into the seat as best I could until I felt something slam into me and everything went dark.
I was cold. So, so cold. I groaned and fought my way to the surface of consciousness trying to force my eyes open against the pain in my head. I immediately decided I woke up ina nightmare. I was still in the plane. The front window was shattered and water was quickly filling the cabin.
“No, no, no!” I screamed. I tried to scramble out of my seat and was slammed backwards by the seat belt. My hands fumbled with the clip and I looked over at the pilot. A piece of the propeller impaled him through the neck. I followed it backwards and saw it just missed the man in handcuffs. I wasn’t sure if he was alive or not. I looked over at the Marshal and found vacant eyes staring at me. He was dead too. The water was around my thighs now.
“Okay, Kaelin, think dammit,” I muttered.
I looked around and saw a large crate behind the man in handcuffs. I didn’t know if I’d be able to get it out but I needed to try. I also knew I wasn’t going to be able to get out of the front window until the plane filled up. I didn’t like that. At all.
I waded back in between the two back seats and instead of grabbing the crate, something made me reach out to feel the handcuffed man’s neck, searching for a pulse. It was weak but there.
“Fuck,” I muttered viciously. I didn’t feel right leaving him here to drown. I didn’t have time to think through too much else as the water was already lapping at his chest. I fumbled with his seatbelt and at the last minute I submerged to unclip it. I surged back up and my head hit the ceiling of the plane.
I panicked and quickly gasped in as big of a breath as I could with the last remaining space. Then there was only blurry darkness. I grabbed the man and dragged him towards the front window.
I felt the glass cut into my arm as I scraped past the jagged edges and then I turned and hauled the man through. My lungs were burning and just when I started to see stars, my head broke the surface and air rushed back into my lungs. The man’s unconscious weight pulled me back under momentarilybefore I dragged him up and started swimming towards shore, sputtering in the choppy water.
By the time I dragged both of us onto the bank, I was coughing up lake water and my lungs were on fire. I lay there, chest heaving, too afraid to think too hard yet about what this meant and the situation I now found myself in. It was too terrifying. I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.
Hypothermia. The thought cut through my shock and got me moving again. I looked around and saw we crashed in a small mountain lake. There were tall peaks surrounding me with heavy forest but thankfully not a lot of snow. I didn’t think I could deal with snow right now. I grabbed the man’s shirt collar and towed him up further onto the bank. I dropped him near a fallen log and shrugged out of my soaked parka. Looking back at the lake, I knew what I needed to do—I just didn’t want to do it. I needed to get that crate. I didn’t have a way to make a fire, no supplies, no food…I needed to go back down to the plane.
The irony was the sun was starting to peek through the dark clouds as though mocking our attempt to pass through the storm. So while everything was slushy and damp on the shore, the sun was at least attempting to make an appearance. I hoped it would dry everything out. I pulled off my wet thermal long sleeve shirt and peeled myself out of my jeans until I was down to my bra and panties. I shot a glance over at the man but he was luckily still unconscious. I waded in and a whine escaped as the cold sliced through me. My fingers and toes immediately went numb. I just needed to do this quickly. I hoped the plane wasn’t too deep. I dove in and swam out to where I thought I surfaced.
I took a few deep breaths, willed my freezing lungs to hold air and then dove under. I saw the plane and thanked the universe it wasn’t deeper than I could dive. Then I thankedwhatever was up there again for my extensive swimming career that gave me the confidence to do this. Granted, I’d never been in this cold of water, but whatever. That’s what adrenaline was for.
I reached the plane and my lungs were already yelling at me. I debated whether I should surface and come back but I didn’t know if I had two of these dives in me right now. I swam through the broken window and into the back of the plane. Then I realized I had a problem. The crate was heavy.
I battled it through the window and fought to get to the surface with it. My lungs were nearly done and I knew I’d never make it going straight up so instead I started swimming towards the shore at an angle. I was in about twelve feet of water when I ran out of air and dropped it. I bobbed to the surface and inhaled rapidly, seeing stars as I gulped breath after breath of freezing air. Pulling in another huge breath I dove again.
And again.
And again.
I made it to the shallows and panting but determined, I bodily wrestled the crate onto dry land.
I didn’t dare rest before I got a fire going so I pulled open the top and peeked inside. I nearly sobbed with relief, there was everything I could hope for in the crate. Including a first aid kit, water purifier and matches. I didn’t bother doing an inventory of the rest but went to the edge of the forest and started collecting firewood. It was difficult because of how wet everything was after the rain but I managed. It wasn’t until a space blanket was wrapped around my shoulders and I was seated next to a roaring fire, that I really let my situation sink in.
I survived a plane crash.
