Our Darkest Day

Not enough time or distance to keep us from harms way. It would have been the men on the ground if not for Lou's make-shift aerial bomb. But the bomb itself sufficed in knocking us out of the sky... a two for one if you will. We eliminated the danger below, most of it anyway, assuring us that those armed men wouldn't be the first responders to our crash site.

That blast... it seems to move Naomi sideways a couple of feet as I am in my turn. The concussion along with the fragmentation has not only eliminated the threat below us, but all maneuvering and lift capability. It is all drag from here on out. I am aware of more light in the aircraft, the stillness of Lou's body, the ground as it displays in front of me... as though I am a limp cloth tumbling in a dryer. Somewhere inside my mind I say goodbye, and then the most horrendous hit in my life as Naomi collides with northern Mexico.

All is black and silent. I wait in this limbo for a sign that I am dead. So far this is a pretty good indication.

I don't know if time has passed. I know nothing. I can't see anything but don't know if I have my eyes open or can open them for that matter. I hear very little. What I hear I almost feel, that is how numb I am. Somewhere in this I worry for Lou... but I am helpless to find him.

Feeling comes back to me in spurts. I am being dragged. Light flashes in my eyes, then it fragments and scatters... then it is back as bright as the sun. There is a great deal of pain, but I cannot pinpoint the source. One thing for certain is that I am not dead, not yet anyway. I tumble, long and hard, as though someone rolled me off a cliff to dispose of me. Then I hit the cold rush of current. Somewhere behind me I sense another body touching down.

I had no idea that when this day started I would be shot down, blown up, dragged and dropped... only to drown at the end of it. Just as I am resigning myself I am collected and heaved up on the bank.

"Come on... WAKE UP fella... " I feel a slap... no pain or sting from it, probably no more of an effect than slapping an elephant. I am shaken and slapped again. From deep within me a sharp stab of pain makes itself known.
"hey..."
"That's it... come on, wake up." He shakes me again and the pain increases.
"stop... shaking me."

I am cold now, and the feeling comes back to me as quickly as dreams fade to an awakening man.
"I think something is broken."

"You should be dead."
"Where is Lou?"
"He's gone, Jake."

He knows my name. This stranger knows my name. I open my eyes, well... one of them. The other is swelled shut from my impact with the inside of Naomi's cockpit.
Before me is the man in some of the pictures that Babe had on her walls.

"Are you Taylor?"
"Now your coming back, Jake."
"Jerry... "

There is a pause... bad news.
"They have him."
"Lou."
"He's gone man."
"No."
"Yes."
"Get him... bring him here."
"Dude, there are still men up there. I barely made it out of there with you. There is no way he is still with us. He fell from that plane before you dove in. He had to be dead."

I feel for any confirmation on this. Would I know if he were dead? I sure as hell thought he was on more than one occassion. One thing for sure, I am not leaving him up there to rot. I try to struggle to my feet. From the jolt of pain I receive for my efforts I can only gather that my back is broken.
"Get him... please go get him."
"You're fucking crazy, man."

I fight through the pain as I grab the collar of his shirt and drag him face to face.
"Lou risked his life to come to save your ass. You go and GET HIM."

When I let him go, the pain takes me and I am out. It is an odd thing, the immense pain that blacks you out... but you fight like hell to get back to where you can feel it again. That is my quest, to get back to consciousness and find my friends. I already don't like this Taylor. He isn't one of us. Doesn't have the commitment.

I creak open my good eye and as far as I can tell I am looking down stream from where we entered. It seems like I am laying here for an eternity. I slip in and out of consciousness. While my eye is closed I hear distant splashes... more than one man. I am hoping it is Lou coming with Taylor, but when I hear the voices I know this is not true.

"Es el piloto."

I feel the water surge around my legs as they gather around me. I am heaved off of the ground and hear one of them emit a horrifying scream. Only when I feel the black out come that I am aware it was me. What happens now I do not know.

I am cold. There is no warmth. I feel my body convulse, a hard hit that makes my teeth crunch. It is now that I realize I am not in good hands.

"El se recupera."

I can smell ozone, something... "

"Golpéelo otra vez."
This time I go rigid and feel the current through my body. Whatever is broken is set by the contraction of my muscles. The hit is only seconds long, but I can smell burning flesh and hair.

I open my eyes and I am in a barren room, cracked and stained with years of neglect. Above me are high, shallow windows, and a single light bulb hanging from its wires, tape in place of wire nuts that would make it a...

"DONDE ESTA NUESTRO DINERO?"
I am hit again with a blast of household current. I close my eyes tight. In the back of my mind I hope that these guys know how long you can do this without killing a guy. Me... I don't know. Never had a need to electrocute a man in my basement before.

A strained voice comes from my throat, "I... don't... know about the money."

As if the room had to agree on a response to my statement there is a pause before the next blast of current. I am wracked with pain... from the current, from my injuries, from the cold I am feeling to my bones. I wonder if this is paralysis I am feeling.

Then, in a bone chilling moment I hear the sound of some sort of tool, high speed... the kind of tool they would use to cut through bone. I keep my eyes closed and wait for the end, no matter how agonizing that end might be. I think of nothing else. I have already made my peace and said goodbye to those I love or have loved. Those I wish to take with me in my memories of this Earth.

There is emotion mixed with the voices. My Spanish is not working for me here and now, but I can hear it in them, the apprehension. Only one voice drives them too cut into me, to continue until my voice will be quieted, even when it says nothing of importance.

As I wait to die, I think it is something I wish... not reality, that happens next. Gunshots in the distance, screams as men go down. The retaliation drives toward me, more and more men cry out as the invading force comes near. I keep my eyes closed, knowing to open them might only fuel my captors cruelty. The high pitched sound of the tool changes to a scream of the same nature, only it is my voice that fills the room as the pinky and ring finger are separated from my left hand.

Then, like an angel from heaven, a voice that puts a smile on my tortured face.

"JAKE... "
There is a blast... shotgun from the sound of it, then the sound of someone throwing the pulp of a watermelon against the wall of this place. I keep my eyes closed and feel a liberating hand undoing the straps that bind me to this place.
"Grab his legs."

More gunfire. I am dropped to the ground, my body numb and eyes clenched tightly closed I can only sense what is going on around me. There is a flurry of movement and I sense a struggle. My feeling returnes when something heavy and hard lands on the side of my face. Had I been on my back rather than my side I think my jaw would be broken from the force of it. Whatever it is partially blocking the view of my good eye.

A body lands next to me, no... two men, locked in battle. I see the reflection of a blade, slashing against the force that holds it fast. I taste blood on my lips and then see the eyes. It is Lou, looking directly at me. It is his blood I am feeling, his struggle that is near its mortal end.

Now I know Lou, I know his voice, his heart, his loyalty, and beyond all... his look.
He cuts to the ground below my head and back to his attacker. In this instant I can see that he is pumping blood onto the ground like a gored bullfighter. If I don't act now this will be it for the both of us.

I muster everything I have into the burst of energy that I summon. It moves my body, like pushing a beached whale with a bulldozer, I shove myself into a position where I can grab the gun that has landed near my face. In a fleeting moment I relish the fact that the prick didn't cut off the fingers on my right hand. I aim and squeeze. I think there are five shots before the weapon just clicks in my hand.

"Lou?"
"Nice shootin' Tex."
"Are we dead?"
"Not yet, pal, but the night is young."

Minutes pass. Lou manages a tourniquet to stem the flow from his wound. I have managed to see through my swollen eye and have overcome some pretty good pain to sit upright.
"Jake... you doin' okay?"
"Jesus, Lou, I thought you were dead."
"When that bomb went off, I thought I was dead too." He stands and I can see that he has been shot through the leg as well, a belt from some anonymous donor strapped tightly around his thigh above the wound.

"We have to get to Abigail and get the fuck out of here, Jake."
"Where is Taylor."

I see Lou look toward the hallway, then back at me.
"He is going to find where they took Jerry."
"I don't trust him, Lou."
"He pulled my ass out of the wreckage and helped me get you out of here. You should trust him."

I try to focus on standing, it is monumental. Lou sees my efforts and jumps up to my side as I cry out with the pain.
"You're pretty broken up, Jake. Best let me take you where we're going."
"I... "
"Just shut the fuck up, Nancy, and let me carry you."

It is a painful process, but in the end I retain consciousness as Lou uses a firemen's carry to take me out of the building.

There is someone ahead of us, guiding us. While we bound along, something in my back gives an audible crack and I feel the lightning flash of feeling in my legs and feet.
"LOU... Lou, put me down. Something popped."

We stop and I am slowly lowered to the ground, feet first. I can feel the earth beneath me, and when I put my weight on my limbs... they hold.
"What ever happened in the wreck just went back into place."

I stand on my own and take a step or two. I can feel the need to wince with the pain, but don't. Lou has been dropped from the sky and shot through the leg and he was carrying me. I can surely withstand this discomfort in order to get us out of this place.