Chapter 94

The vast ocean in front of them slowly began to transition. Jo could see land in the distance. It seemed so strange and out of place, but there it was, her motherland, the United States.
Ryker kept their altitude high and steady even after they began to fly over dry land. Jo wondered when he’d start his descent since Virginia was on the coast. She had no idea where Richmond was, though. It could be on the far western side of the state for all she knew.
“The higher we stay, the better for now,” Ryker explained. “I don’t know what kind of antiaircraft weapons those bastards have, but I also don’t want to find out.”
Jo wasn’t sure what to say to that. She trusted her Aunt Cassidy with the shield she was throwing, but she doubted it would protect them from a huge weapon if the Vampires started shooting at them. Just because Cassidy was shielding them against radar detection, that didn't mean that Vampires or humans on the ground wouldn’t be able to look up into the sky and see them, directing those big weapons to open fire on them.
What would happen if they got hit, she didn’t know, and she didn’t want to ask. But she imagined there would be a fiery explosion and a long fall to the hard ground, something she would like to avoid.
From the pilot’s seat, Ryker began to flip switches and turn dials. Jo didn’t have any idea what he was doing. She just sat perfectly still and did her best to stay out of the way. The plane began to lower slightly, so she assumed he’d started his descent.
In front of her, a town sprang up in the distance. Jo had often tried to see the ground with the eyes of a pilot, but no matter how hard she tried, she was never able to pick out the airport until they were practically right on top of it. She just didn’t get it. How the pilot managed to see where they were going and get the plane down in the right place was astounding to her.
The plane continued to descend. It seemed like they were dropping faster than Jo was used to, but then, this plane was different from the ones she was used to flying in. The planes her father flew were usually smaller and faster. Then there were the airliners that were bigger--and also faster, she thought. This one was a cargo plane, a piece of junk she was surprised had held together this long. Maybe it was necessary to drop this sort of plane a lot faster than those other kinds for some unknown reason.
When Ryker started flipping switches a bit more frantically than he had been before, Jo got the impression that maybe this was not part of the usual procedure. “Is everything okay?” Jo asked, praying he said that everything was just fine, and this is just how a person flew a plane like this.
“We’re losing oil pressure,” Ryker said. “I’m not sure why. We’re almost to the airport, so it might not matter, but considering how short the runway is, I was hoping I’d at least have a fully functioning airplane by the time I had to put it down.”
Jo had experience with low oil pressure in vehicles that ran on the ground, never in a plane. “Is there anything I can do?” she asked, trying not to panic. It didn’t seem like it was that big of a problem--yet. It probably would’ve been worse if he’d discovered this problem when they were still hanging precariously over the Atlantic Ocean.
“No. Just stay the hell out of my way,” he said.
She could do that. Jo plastered herself against her seat and kept her hands tucked underneath her legs.
“What the hell’s goin’ on up there?” Heather’s voice in her head was there without the help of the IAC, which meant it was the Hybrid’s telepathy forcing the words into her mind, something that made Jo a little uneasy.
“I’m not sure,” she said, but she knew that Heather could poke around enough in her mind to find the answer if she wanted it badly enough. “Oil pressure or something. We are almost to the airport. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
Heather didn’t respond, which was just as well since Ryker’s problems seemed to be mounting.
“What now?” Jo asked, afraid to hear the answer.
“That runway is not long enough to handle a plane this big,” he said. The plane was getting closer and closer to the ground by the second, but Jo still had no idea where the airport was. The fact that he could allegedly see it was mind boggling to her.
“What does that mean, exactly?” she asked. “We need to borrow a little bit of grass at the end or something?”
“Sure--if it’s short enough and smooth enough to keep the plane from flipping over or plowing nose first into the ground. I need about a thousand more feet of runway to get this fucker down cleanly.”
Jo swallowed hard. She wasn’t too concerned about the plane toppling over once they got on the ground. She could strap herself to the seat, and the people in the back might get rolled around a little bit, but they would survive. Scott could mend scratches and broken bones easily enough.
She didn’t know how Ryker would fare, though. He could also strap himself to the seat, but if the glass shattered or a projectile entered the cockpit, it could be the end of him.
Ryker circled the airport, sinking lower and lower to the ground with each passing second. “Are you buckled in?” Jo asked him.
“What?” Ryker asked, his mind clearly on other things.
“Your seatbelt. Is it on? If you flip the plane, you’re going to get hurt.”
“I’m not going to flip the goddamn plane,” Ryker insisted. “If it flips it will be the ground’s fault, not mine.”
“I didn’t mean you specifically,” Jo said, realizing she’d picked the wrong time to insult him. “I just meant, if the plane flips, you could go flying out the windshield.”
Ryker didn’t say anything in response. Jo peered across the cockpit and saw that he wasn’t buckled in. The urge to reach over and put his seatbelt on him was overwhelming, but she had also sworn she wouldn't touch anything. The struggle was real.
The ground was rising up quickly now. Finally, she saw the runway beneath them, but it wasn’t like the runways she was used to seeing when she looked out of a plane. This one looked like a sidewalk, the kind that doesn’t quite reach the end of the block, which means you have to walk in some crazy cat lady’s yard and get screamed at. “Get off of my lawn!” Only in this case, that yard was going to flip them right over.
“Can you tell your friends to brace themselves for a hard landing?” Ryker asked.
Her IAC was not working. “Not without going back there,” she said.
“Hurry,” was his only response.
Jo shot up out of her seat, heading to the back of the plane as fast as she could go. “We’re gonna have a rocky landing,” she said.
“What the hell?” Elliott asked her, but she couldn’t stick around to say more.
She spun around and flew back up to the front of the plane, stopping at Ryker’s seat to grab his seatbelt and pull it across him.
“What are you doing?” he said as she threaded the strap through his arms and clipped it in.
“Trying to keep you from dying,” she responded as she sat back down into the seat and strapped herself in, too.
“Didn’t know you cared.” Ryker muttered. Jo said nothing, only kept her eyes out the windshield.
The ground was right out the windshield now, and it would just be a few seconds before they were sliding across the torn up asphalt, careening toward the grass at the end of the road.
The tires touched down lightly enough, but Ryker was clearly struggling to keep the plane where it was meant to be at the speed with which they were barreling across the bumpy terrain.
The plane was slowing down, but Jo recognized the importance of not slamming on the brakes--or whatever a person did to slow down a plane--which could make the vehicle fishtail and flip.
The road ran out before the plane stopped, and they were tearing up the grass, heading toward a row of trees that was about to act like a net to catch them. Jo sucked in a deep breath and held it, hoping that Ryker stopped them before they hit those trees.
The plane tipped over so quickly, Jo didn’t even feel it starting to go until she was upside down. Out the glass, she could see the ground where the sky was meant to be and very little else as it shattered and tufts of grass and tree limbs from that net that was supposed to stop them jabbed in through the opening.
A second later, the plane stopped, upside down. Both Jo and Ryker were hanging from their seats by their seatbelts. Shouts and curse words from the back of the plane hit her ears.
The scent of gas--or whatever went into airplanes--began to burn her nose. Jo unbuckled and braced herself against the roof of the plane as she fell onto her hands and knees. She was fine, though. Not a scratch on her. A glance back up to where she just fell from told her that Ryker was not so lucky. Blood was dripping on her, and he wasn’t moving.
‘Damn it!” Jo screeched. “Why did we have to land on a fucking runway that was too goddamn short?”
“How’s everything up here?” Elliott asked , coming into the cockpit.
“Not good,” Jo said, standing up to see if she could get Ryker out of the seat.
Elliott grabbed hold of the seatbelt and yanked it free from the wall mount. Ryker slumped into Jo’s arms. She caught him, and with Elliott’s help, moved to the back of the plane where the others had the door open. They took him straight out and away from the plane, in case it caught on fire. Jo wished she would’ve known how to turn it off, but she didn’t think she could do that even if the aircraft wasn’t upside down.
Lying Ryker down on the ground, Jo took inventory of his injuries. He had a bad gash across the front and side of his face and his side was punctured, a big piece of glass sticking out of it.
“He’s probably out because of that head injury,” Elliott said. “I think he’s okay, though.”
Scott was with them in a few seconds, his medical bag in his hand. His healing powers probably couldn’t help the human, but he was a medically trained doctor as well.
“Is he going to be okay?” Jo asked, trying not to panic. Just a few days ago, she would’ve welcomed the idea of Ryker being out of her life forever.
Scott looked her in the eyes and said, “I don’t know, Jo. I just don’t know.”

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