A Lost Ghost

Chapter 4: Viking Down

Not long after taking off, we meet up with the other four Japanese pilots and get into the Vic formation, which is basically the Flying V. Since SuperFly has the most experience out of everyone, he still leads the formation. No one utters a single word except to make radio contact with the carrier. The only noise in my cockpit is the sound of my heavy breathing. My heart starts to pound even faster as I become hyper-fixated on the oxygen mask gripping my face. It feels too tight. It feels like it's constricting my lungs. My chest heaves up and down as I take in sharp, quick breaths to get more air. I squeeze my eyes shut for a second and shake my head.

It's only in your head, I tell myself. You've worn this mask a hundred times before and have been fine. It's only in your head. You're fine. I'm fine.

I force myself to take in deep breaths, and eventually, the knots in my chest loosen. About thirty minutes of silent, blissful peace lasts before I start to see the outline of land over the horizon.

"Vikings descending below radar," SuperFly calls out. I let out a shaky breath as I push my stick downwards. We slowly fall below the clouds and hover a couple hundred feet above the ocean. "Approaching enemy territory."

That irritating lump in my throat makes a reappearance as we fly over the vast frozen land that is Russia. I take in another deep breath.

Is this really how Ghost feels before every mission? Cause this freaking sucks.

I look forward to see Hurricane's jet right in front of me. I can just barely make out the top of Ghost's orange helmet. I wonder how he's doing. If he's freaking out just as much as I am, or if he's a normal person who understands that this is supposed to be the easiest bombing run, we'll probably have. I wish the flight was a lot longer, but before I know it, I'm staring down at the massive snow-covered mountains below. "One minute to target."

Up ahead, I recognize the two mountains that the base is wedged between. My eyes widen, my heart sinking as beeping erupts from my jet. A string of curse words leaves everyone's mouth.

"We're being targeted!" SuperFly shouts.

But there's not supposed to be any anti-air weapons. I whip my head around, looking for the SAMs. I have to do a double take, but my heart sinks into my gut as I see a SAM site right under me. Smoke erupts from the site as two missiles come shooting towards me.

"Smoke in the air! Break right!" Matrix screams.

"Break formation!" SuperFly yells. I yank my stick to the right, rolling my jet. A missile shoots past me.

I level out, whipping my head around to see the other one, but I can't.

"Where's it at, Matrix?!"

"It's on your six!"

"Viking 4 defending!"

I slam my fist into the flares and break right. I hear the pop, pop, pop, pop of the flares. The missile slams into one of the flares. My jet rattles from the explosion. My eyes flick to the side as Hurricane and Ghost try to shake a missile.

"Hurricane, break left!" I scream. She does and narrowly dodges a missile. Another high-pitched beep comes from my plane.

"Here comes another one!" Matrix yells. I roll again, swerving my jet back and forth, but they stay on me.

"Viking 4 defending!"

I press the flares again and roll to the right. Both missiles hit the flares.

"Oh my God," Matrix murmurs. My heart plunges as I look down and see the airfield, not in construction like intelligence had said, but fully operational. Jets litter the runway. Three massive buildings are standing, and a dozen more SAM sites guard the base.

How did intelligence screw up this bad? My jet starts to beep again. I see two more missiles coming at us in my rearview mirror. I dive, trying to get lower so maybe the missile will hit a building or the side of a mountain. I hit the flares yet again and stare into my mirror as it tracks to the flare.

"Binky!" Matrix screams.

"Altitude! Pull up! Pull up!" Betty screams. I look forward, my heart collapsing within myself as I shoot toward the side of a mountain, about to crash head-on into it. I yank back on the stick, pulling the jet almost vertically. I can hear the tops of trees scraping against the bottom of my jet. My ribs tighten around my lungs. My skull tightens around my brain. It feels as if the jet itself is sitting on my chest as the G's wreak havoc on me. Snow from the mountain swallows my jet whole. I can barely see through the cloud of blinding snow.

My body and lungs tighten even more as I hit nine G's. My vision starts to blacken. I can feel myself slipping into the darkness. The world shrinks until it looks like I'm viewing it through a toilet paper roll. I see us flying over the peak and climbing into the endless sky before the darkness completely swallows me whole. My eyes roll into the back of my head, my limbs relaxing, my head slamming against the back of the seat as I black out. I don't know how long I'm out. All I see is darkness. My body feels weightless like I'm floating through pitch-black water. My ears start to ring. A faint mumble tickles the back of my brain. A sharp light cuts through the darkness. The murmur gets louder and louder.

"Binky!"

I yank my eyes open, sucking in a lung full of air.

"Pull up! Pull up!" Matrix and Betty scream. The ground comes closer and closer. I grab the stick with both hands and jerk back. My jet pulls up, narrowly missing the ground. I suck in sharp breaths, my chest heaving up and down as I level out. "Engine fire right!" Betty yells. My eyes narrow as I glance over to see fire spewing from my right engine.

"We took a hit! We took a hit!" Matrix says. I yank back on the stick, climbing even more. I pull the throttle back and shut off the fuel to the right engine.

Clink, clink, clink, boom!

I flinch as the jet groans and shakes violently. I look down to see a soldier on the airfield, firing a machine gun at us. The bullets tear through the left engine.

"Engine fire left!"

My heart sinks, and I know right then and there that I'm dead.

My ears ache as loud noises fill my cockpit. I can barely think between the beeping, the fire, Matrix, and Betty screaming at me.

"Flight controls!" says Betty. I yank my stick back and forth, but the jet doesn't respond.

"We've got hydraulic failure!" Matrix adds. The blood drains from my body. I can't save it. My jet starts to descend rapidly.

"Altitude! Altitude!"

There's nothing I can do. We're burning in. There's nothing left to do.

"Eject! Eject! Eject!" I scream.

The canopy rips away from the jet. The air rushes into the cockpit as Matrix pulls on the ejection handle and flies away. I reach down and yank with all my might. I can feel the heat from under me as I shoot into the air and rip open my parachute.