The Ultimates (Watty Awards 2011)

Chapter 14

(AN: OMG I just realised that i only have 12 days to write the rest of the book. And the chapters have to be long because it has to be 30 pages or it's entered in the short stories and I don't want it to be enetered in the short stories. So have about 14 (excluding the chapter) pages to go! Ugh...)

I stared at the spectacle; it was an aircraft like no other. It was a jet and its shape was unlike anything I had ever seen. I looked strange but its silver sparkle and enigmatic appearance drew me to it.

“What is it?” Andrew asked.

“The fastest jet known to man. Ladies...erm…lady and gentlemen, I present the X-7401GR. We made this in 2016. The army doesn’t use these; there are only three in existence. We do have some pilots the can fly this thing though. Example: Me. I’ll be your pilot for this afternoon.”

“I hope I won’t have to eat airline food,” Andrew said, jokingly.

“Don’t worry, you won’t.”

We all received a heavy layer of clothing and covered that clothing with a G-Suit to counteract the effects of high speed turns and manoeuvres. We also put on a harness to be connected to the ejection system. Chuck put on a helmet with the electronics for communications and protection from sun damage on the face while we also put on helmets, but that was just for protection from sun damage. We also put on parachutes: always important. Finally, we all put on oxygen masks.

We got into the jet. There was a back seat as well as a front seat. Torov, Andrew, Ashley and I went into the jet and sat in the back seat and made our necessary preparations while Chuck made his necessary preparations in the front seat, where he would be piloting the jet.

When we all saw that Chuck was finished preparing we buckled up. Chuck checked us to make sure we were okay and then he buckled up as well. The engine turned on and in a couple of seconds our bodies flew back and we were in the air.

It was amazing the speeds at which the jet flew. I couldn’t even get my back off the back of the seat. We were in the clouds with low visibility but I knew Chuck was keeping up with his GPS.

We sat there, staring ahead of us, waiting for Chuck to give us some kind of signal. He told us that, based on the speed and the direction that the helicopter was moving in, we might be able to catch him somewhere near the coast of Spain.

When we were almost over the city where the helicopter was Chuck communicated with us through the helmets:

“We’re about to get to the helicopter. I think I’ll probably gun him down to make it easier.”

Gun him down. Gun him down? When Chuck said those words I knew I couldn’t let that happen. I had to make sure he was alive. I did something a bit drastic to fight to make sure Seth was alive. I took a deep breath and held it, disconnected the oxygen mask and pressed the ejection button for my seat.

My chair shot into the air. I took off my helmet, unbuckled my seatbelt and jumped out of my seat. I continued to fall until I could see the helicopter. Then, I released the parachute and gently descended.

I grabbed the skids of the helicopter and threw away my parachute. I moved my head to the side while the door to the cabin opened. I knew they had noticed me.

Sure enough, Seth was staring down at me. I quickly climbed up and kicked him in the jaw. While he recoiled, I got my whole body into the helicopter and steadied myself. We were both slightly bending over. The helicopter was shifting and I could tell the pilot was trying to figure out what was going on.

The autopilot was on so he was free to try to get out of the cockpit and into the cabin. He did so, and saw me. He rushed at me but then I jabbed him in the eye and kicked him out of the helicopter. Shouting over the rotors of the helicopter, Seth said:

“I thought you were dead!”

“And I thought you were a good person! But not everything that we think is true, is it Seth?”

I swiped at me, but I blocked it with my arm and jabbed at his left cheek. I succeeded and he recoiled. It was a bit difficult to fight with Seth while slightly bent over in a helicopter.

I got into the cockpit and switched off the autopilot. The helicopter jerked downwards. I fell down and Seth flew into the cockpit. Seth took out his pistol but I kneed him in the stomach and kicked him. He flew back into the glass in front of me which broke and he fell out of the helicopter. I grabbed a parachute from inside the helicopter and jumped out.

Now we were both falling into a forest. By the time we both hit the ground the helicopter hit the ground as well and exploded in the distance. Seth and I were both trying to gather ourselves when Ashley, Andrew. Torov and Chuck fell out of the sky with parachutes hanging over their heads. When we both got up we realised that Ashley, Andrew. Torov and Chuck were there. I quickly pulled me gun out of its holster and pointed it at him.

“First things first. Chuck where’s the jet?” I asked.

“Somewhere hurdling through the sky going to hit the ground. We all had to eject to follow you. I guess the world will only have two X-7401GRs in existence,” he responded.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I know you knew that what you did was what you had to do. It may have been rash but…”

“Yeah. Secondly, do we kill Mr. Angry Pants over here?”

“Oh please! Do you think killing me will make a difference! We’ll all destroy you no matter what!” Seth outburst.

“You have a point. We’ll probably do better with intelligence. Should we bring him back for interrogation?”

They all said yes to what I said, but it didn’t seem that Seth was very interested in that idea. He picked up his gun and put it to his head, his finger on the trigger.

“I’d rather die than go with you!”

I could see the force that he was about to exert in his hand. I could see the veins popping up on his hand. He was actually going to do it. He’d rather commit suicide than be victim to our interrogation methods. His eyes closed. He was ready to die.

An extremely loud, piercing, screech sounded and all eyes moved from Seth to the source of that sound. Seth jerked his head to the source of the sound as well. There, in the distance, was the X-7401GR jet sliding along the ground in our direction. More precisely, Seth’s direction.

Seth’s arm involuntarily lowered itself a bit as he stared at this spectacle. Do you know when something dangerous is heading towards you and you’re so shocked that you can’t even move. I can imagine that’s what Seth was feeling because as we ran away, he stayed in his original position. Then, the aircraft hit him.

The large, partially destroyed aircraft completely crushed Seth. He could not be seen but we knew he was under the aircraft. The jet just kept moving until it reached a cliff and it fell off into the water below. It landed with a very large splash from what I could hear. We all ran towards the cliff to see the jet but by the time we got there it had already sunk to the bottom of the sea, never to come back up again with Seth.