No Man's Land

4- Unorthodox Methods of Screw Removal

Jana *****

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On reflex, I ducked behind the vertical stabilizer as a gunshot echoed in front of me. I quickly drew out my gun and popped up to see who was shooting at me. I quickly caught a glimpse of ruddy brown hair-presumably that of Maxine.

"Oli?!" She called out, firing off more shots at me.

Jesus Christ the woman's gone mad.

"What?" Olivia yelled back as she ducked behind the plane which Maxine was enjoying rattling with bullets. My head pounded, the extremely loud pops not doing any good for my concussion. Maxine's firing stopped and I took the chance to shoot the gun out of her hands. She looked up at me in astonishment.

"Wait, you're okay?" She asked. Obviously it was directed at Olivia; why would she care if she had just tried to kill me.

"No shit Sherlock! Why the hell did you just try to slaughter Jana?" I let out a sigh and slumped down against the vertical stabilizer.

"I-I heard a gunshot."

"And you just assumed it was me? It didn't maybe cross your mind that I wouldn't kill an ally?" I exclaimed. The woman either needed to dial down her suspicion instincts or start to medication.

"I mean, I would expect someone like you wouldn't bat an eye shooting her!"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I shouted as I stepped onto the opposing horizontal stabilizer. I knew what it was supposed to mean.

"It's supposed to mean that you're some big time skilled agent and I quite frankly don't trust you!" She shouted back. Of course those idiots told her about it. At least they didn't know the whole story.

"Oh of course, and that automatically makes me an apathetic killer?" I spat out as I slid off of the side of the plane. I'd been able to normally land on my feet with a two or three story fall, but when I hit the ground I stumbled. I groaned and held my head as I let myself sit on the ground. I rubbed my temples slowly and sighed as the pulsing in my head grew.

"Sorry if it's hard to trust the deadly stranger I met under an hour ago." She said, her voice lowering in volume. "Shit, did I hit you?"

"No, but the console did and that's coming back to bite." I muttered. "You'd never be able to hit me."

"Well now I just want to shoot you more." She laughed.

"I'm serious. I probably have a concussion but I was still able to shoot the gun out of your hand." I slowly pushed myself off of the ground.

"That's okay, I've another and two more in my suitcase." She joked. Regrettably, I cracked a smile and shoved my gun into it's no-longer concealed holster.

"We're done by the way. If you couldn't tell, the fire went out shortly after we removed the the fuel. I shot off the screws with my gun to get it open."

"That explains a lot, sorry for trying to murder you then. Are you good to head back?" Maxine asked.

"I think we should pull out the emergency water landing rafts in case we want to use them to get off the island, and I'd like to get my suitcase." I offered, standing up. Maxine nodded.

"Gabby and I can get the rafts while you get whatever it is you need from your backpack." Obviously, she would take this chance to talk with Gabby privately, but I didn't care much. With the little exchange, I'd determined that she was not a threat.

"Great." With that I climbed back up into the plane and made my way to the wrecked cockpit. I cringed at the splash of blood which had stained the console-it was mine. I would have to figure out how badly I had damaged my head later. Obviously it wasn't anything strong enough to impare my shooting ability.