I was one of five women chosen to serve our country, fighting side by side with the men, and only some of us had come home. Being surrounded by friends and enemies, having to choose who you can save, who you can love, and how to survive is something...
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A couple of hours later, prop blasts from the mainland below exploded in the near distance. I turned in my seat to peer out of the small window behind me and saw bright bursts of light glowing against the thick dark clouds in the night sky. My heart hammered against my chest as the realization washed over me: we were over occupied territory - and they were looking for us.
Webster grabbed my hand again, causing me to look over at him. He shouted over the noise of the plane and the increasing loud blasts from outside, "Remember what I told you! I'll find you!"
I nodded, opening my mouth to reply but our jumpmaster shouted as loud as he could by the open door, "Stand up!"
Everyone stood and Webster let go of my hand. Once we were on our feet, Webster glanced over his shoulder. I was two people behind him. A large lump formed in my throat as my eyes darted about the plane. I barely heard our next order over the increasing noise, "Hook up!"
With shaky hands, I quickly hooked onto the line hanging in the center of the aisle near the ceiling just as the plane started to shake violently. We cleared the heavy cloud cover and the scene was terrifying! Glowing tracer bullets flew into the night sky at us - searching for us, followed by prop blasts that ricocheted off the metal plane chassis making it even harder to hear much of anything else.
Before the order to check equipment was given, the plane hit a prop blast, jostling us around as the pilots tried to correct it. Several people fell back onto their seats while others grabbed the walls of the plane to stay on their feet. I crumbled to my knees in the aisle, struggling to stand up again. The plane vibrated aggressively under my fingers, telling me something was wrong with the plane. The man behind me grabbed my shoulders by my chute straps, yanking me back to my unstable feet.
Before we could collect our thoughts, the green jump light by the door illuminated. I gasped at how quickly it was all happening. We didn't check equipment, nor sound off for it - something went horribly wrong. My fear boiled within me as I was forced to watch the line of men in front of me jump out of the plane, leading me closer to the open door and before I knew it, I was next in line. I knew I couldn't hesitate. I had to jump. So I did.
I started to fall fast to the ground. I glanced up - my chute didn't open. I was falling to the earth with no chute to stop me - to save me. It was then I remembered to pull on my reserve chute cord.
I tugged hard and prayed it would work. My body jerked back up into the midnight sky, slowly bringing me down. I glanced up and saw my reserve chute had opened. My heart pounded hard against my ribs as my eyes darted around at the scene surrounding me. My stomach was in knots and I was trembling - from adrenaline or fear - I couldn't say.
Above me, a plane burst into a ball of flames, plummeting to the ground, creating a massive explosion upon impact. I wasn't sure if anyone made it off the plane alive. Heavy thick smoke filled my lungs as the prop blasts exploded around me. My ears were ringing and my body shook violently with each blast. The tracers cut through the black sky as it searched for the planes overhead and descending men. The bile in my stomach threatened to emerge while I drifted to the ground below. This jump was not as comforting as it had been during training, there were no flashbacks of my mother, nor the feeling of her presence.
