Be cafeful what you ask for, you just might... #Speculative #ActionAdventure

Hearts True Flight

by D.K. Richardson


The birds came out of nowhere.

The airframe shuddered, the canopy shattered, and Bitching Betty starting screaming "Pitch up! Pitch up!" The warbling alert tone got louder and louder. Wind was howling around the cockpit! Feathers and blood smeared across the inside of the canopy, all over her and her visor - wiping the entrails off her helmet helped, but things were still blurry. Then she heard the one sound she did understand completely, one that scared her to death - bang, Bang, BANG! Compressor stall! The engines, tons of madly whirling, red hot metal, had been damaged!
John still hadn't reacted. Straining against her harness, she could just see his helmet - covered in blood and lying off to one side! "Oh my god, John!' She shouted before keying the intercom - John, John! JOHN!!' There was no answer.
The aircraft pitched up and started climbing - violently! Her headphones screamed "Engine overspeed! Engine overspeed!" One or both of the turbines were starting to come apart at the seams. "What do I do? What do I do?" she screamed. Then, suddenly, she felt - something, no someone. Next to her? Life shifted into slow motion.
Reaching out, she pulled the throttle control all the way to the rear - that stopped Betty - for now. Reaching up, almost without thought, she selected GUARD on the radio panel and calmly called - "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. Vixen flight has bird strike, pilot unconscious. Mayday, Mayday, May"
Before she could finish, Betty interrupted - "Engine overtemp." screamed in her headset, then "Engine fire!" Burnthrough! Megan knew she had just seconds to live.
Pulling the command switch to "rear" and slamming the lanyard to her chest, she'd executed the boldface procedure for "Eject" perfectly.