// Without Cause // Half-Chapter Five // Flight In The Dark //

Hello everyone! Ammelia here. So sorry it's been so long. Twas kidding and hatching season upon our farm, among other things, meaning we've all had our hands full here. 

So about my story... I've been working on several chapters for this book, yet haven't finished most of them. I'll be working extra hard on finishing them for the next few weeks, while I have some free time again. 

Anyway, here's the rest of chapter five. Hope ye like!

   We took off into the sky, and I took in my surroundings. The interior of the helicopter was actually inviting. The tinted windshield made it look like it was nighttime, and no matter how much I craned my neck or squinted, I still couldn’t see out. Four seats occupied the helicopter, two in front, two in the back, where Ethan and I sat. The pilot sat on the right side, wore a full helmet, which I assumed made him see out the window better, and made the copter move using two joysticks. Lots of little lights and buttons were the only source of light that I could see, but it was enough to see Jim’s lips moving, and the pilot nodding. Obviously they were talking.

   Ethan and I couldn’t hold a conversation, there was no way we could hear each other, as the headsets weren’t attached to anything, they were just to block out the noise. I tried finger-combing my hair, which didn’t really work, so I resorted to sitting still and thinking.

   It was beyond me how Jim thought we were just going to do whatever he said. True, we had just climbed aboard his sweet helicopter, but we really didn’t have much of a choice. We could have made a break while everyone was watching the helicopter land, but I probably wouldn’t have gotten far. I’d end up sprawled on the ground making the sounds of a dying walrus.

   While I was thinking, a thought struck me. What if we’re just going to crash land? Will I die? What would happen if that hap—I stopped. I already knew what would happen. I just didn’t want to think any more about it. Shoving those thoughts out of my mind, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Then I felt tired. Like the exhausted kind of tired, but I was not about to let myself sleep.

   I opened my eyes again in time to see James' seat spin around and face Ethan and I. Ethan looked disgusted, but I marveled at how in the world his chair could do that. Jim held out two connector cables, motioning for us to plug them into our headsets. Ethan did absolutely nothing but glare, therefor I followed suit. Jim rolled his eyes and laid the cables at our feet, then smiled and turned himself and his seat back around. I pointed at the cables, but Ethan shook his head.  

   I figured the cables connected our headphones to his. No way that was gonna happen. I was done hearing his voice.

   Before long, noisy silence and the vibrating swift, motion of the helicopter was the only thing filling my head. Time had elapsed, but I had no way of keeping track of how much. An hour. Maybe two.

   I zoned out, staring at my feet. Ethan stretched his leg out and nudged my foot with his. I gave him a confused look. He yelled and asked if I was okay, which didn’t do much good, since we couldn’t hear each other. But I understood, giving him a small nod and turned back to staring at my feet.

   I let out a sigh, which turned into a gasp as the chopper dipped to the left. Immediately a red light lit the interior. I plastered myself to the seat and looked toward Ethan. His expression may have passed as funny, had this not been a serious situation. He had the seat belt grasped in both hands, a petrified expression frozen on his face.

   The pilot and James were flipping switches and pressing buttons all over the place, when the chopper dipped to the right, leveling it out, for the most part. James swirled around in his chair, hastily unstrapping himself. A scraping noise made its way up both sides of the chopper. James moved to the door and gripped a metal bar across the top of the frame, reaching for the door seal. Before his hand could reach it, the door flew open and wind ripped through the cabin. I clamped my arms over my head, knocking off the headset.

   The chopper made a slow turn, tipping the cabin, open door side up. I screamed, but couldn’t hear a thing. A man wearing a helmet and some sort of jump suit jumped through the opening, scrambling to the cockpit controls, elbowing the pilot out of the way and taking over operations. The helicopter spun around once before becoming level again.

   James recovered from the jostling around and tried to into attack the new pilot. A second man climbed up through the opening, and motioned for Ethan and I to come to him. When we both responded blankly, he pulled himself the rest of the way up and began unhooking Ethan’s seatbelt.

   A third person climbed through the door, this time a woman, who helped me undo my seatbelt. As soon as the seatbelt was off, a different sort of harness immediately took its place. The women turned me around and clipped various things, then placed her helmet on my head, which not much could be seen in. The noise was drown out and a female voice simply stated, “Do not panic, you’re going to jump. You’ll be safe, just don’t panic.”  

    Before I had time to react, the woman wrapped her arms around my waist and jumped out the helicopter door backwards. Seconds later, Ethan and the other guy jumped out. The helicopter moved on at a rapid pace, and the people who had us deployed their parachutes.

   As we neared the ground, a field with several trees, the voice in the headset prepped me for landing. “This may hurt.” Well golly, thanks. I thought.

   The ground grew closer until we hit it, the woman taking the brunt of the fall, ending up on her back with me crushing the life out of her, and smacking her face with my helmet.

  When the harnesses and cables were all taken off, the women removed my helmet. A few dozen yards away, Ethan and the other guy, a tall, dark haired dude, were doing the same.

   “Are you alright?” The woman asked. She was a bit taller than me, with blonde and a kind smile.

 “I… don’t, uh…” An explosion surged not far from us, and Ethan ran towards me.

   “You OK, Kyles?” I nodded.

   The man ran over to us. “We need to get you guys to safety. Follow—”

   Behind us, several armed men stood, ready to fire. The blonde stood, unmoving, meanwhile, the guy cocked his gun. One by one, each of the men fell. A man dressed like the two who had pulled us from the copter jumped from his perch in a far off tree.

  Blondie turned to us. “There’s going to be lots more of them, we have to move.”

And that's the end of chapter five!

For the will of Cause,

Ammelia