Untamable Resolve: The Witheridge Witches

Ch. 45 - Rocket Man

The Test of Wills would take place in the varied terrain of Wyoming, fifty miles from the military base. It used to be a national park: Yellowstone. I'd never gotten the chance to visit it and had always dreamed of going one day. Of course, this wasn't how I imagined going; it would be a beautiful place to die. I think I can pull this off, but if I did die in there, there were much worse places to die, like in a concrete building under harsh fluorescent lights. On the way to the funeral a few days ago, I had seen the park's outskirts, but seeing it in person without the heavily tinted windows would be another thing altogether.

I was mostly familiar with the terrain of the east coast and the South. This is where Silas grew up, though, his old stomping grounds, where he spent probably thirty years of his life.

I made sure to scrub myself clean in the shower that morning. I cut my fingernails and toenails. I even plucked my eyebrows and peach fuzz. If I were to die today, I wanted my body to look tidy if a medical examiner were to see my body to check for the cause of death, asinine as that was. I doubt they would do that, but it gave me something to do with my shaky hands. I french braided my hair down my back as tightly as possible and used some gel to keep it in place.

"So today is the day." Silas announced from the bedroom. I had done my best to sleep in and could only manage to sleep till ten, but I had really tossed and turned since nine basking in the warmth of the bed nestled in soft blankets.

He was already changed into a muddy green outfit and had a matching pair folded under his arm. He handed them to me and put some military-tanned leather boots on the counter with a metal bracelet, probably some type of vitals monitor. I slid the bracelet on my wrist and threw the clothes on before tightly fastening the laces on my boots, fingers trembling before falling onto the bed and staring at the yellowing ceiling. It reminded me of my old college dorm. A tear fell from the corner of my eye, and I quickly brushed it away, sitting up. No. Stop. I berated myself. I had three hours before I'd be in the god-forsaken wilderness. What did I want to do with the time I had left? And then it clicked.

I made my way to the living area and heard the sound of something crackling in a pan. Sniffing the air, I immediately recognized the smell of eggs - fried eggs to be exact. Light, protein-packed, a good last meal before getting dropped in the middle of nowhere for a week. There was a large drink on the counter, and Silas motioned to it, "Drink. It will help you with hydration."

"We're taking a chopper to the drop point, and then we parachute in."

"What?" I snapped at him.

I obviously didn't know how to skydive.

"There was no point in telling you until the day of. You'd only be more nervous than you already are. I was the airborne division commander at the beginning of the war, so I could practically jump out of a plane blind if I had to. I've done it so many times. You're in good hands. You'll be fastened to me and Naomi to Matteo."

I pointed an incredulous look at him. I'm sure it would be fine, but I hated the idea. Freefalling with Silas plummeting to the ground is a big step up from those trust falls we did yesterday.

"Do you have any Elton John to listen to?"

"I might have something downloaded on an old MP3 player in my office. I left it on my desk this morning."

I took the drink with me as I went to his office. I closed the door behind me and chugged down some of the liquid, which tasted salty. I made a disgusted face at it before taking one more sip and snatching the music player off of Silas' desk. I put the headphones over my ears and clicked through all one hundred and twenty-eight songs on the device. The was only one of his songs to choose from. Hopefully, this wasn't my last breakfast morning song. If I could, I'd make it a tradition with my kids like my father had done with me. The idea of me having kids was absolutely laughable, though, because I couldn't fathom the idea of even having sex anymore, especially after all I'd been through. The four-minute and forty-one-second song was over much too soon, but that's all Silas had, so I listened to it for a second time and thought of a better time before all of this, a time when my mom and dad were still alive, and nursing school was the worst of my worries.