Heat Chapter 10

She was drowning in a sea of pain. Suffocating. Gritty sand filled her lungs. Choking. She coughed and the pain radiated and shook her awake. She could not remember where she was and how she got there. Her head hurt and something was covering her eyes. She seemed to be leaning and tilting but yet held in by an iron vise, a belt of some kind. The belt was tearing into her stomach causing more spasms of pain. She pulled her left arm free with great effort and reached out blindly to find something, anything, to connect with. Ribbons of pain traveled down her arm and she cried out.

As Sam's vision started to return, a low moan to her right reoriented her and caused her to focus on the wounded man who was lying heavily against her.

"Jack?" It came out as a harsh whisper.

His head hung loosely, flight goggles and helmet covered with blood.

Of course! They were in a plane. They had been with … who? Who else was with them? Where were they going?

She gingerly reached up with her left arm and touched her face, realizing that she had to remove her own headgear in order to see more clearly. Her companion was wedged so tightly against her that she could not extract her other arm. She could feel the blood running down her free arm as she shakily pried off both helmet and goggles. The stabbing pain told her that she had injured her upper arm or shoulder. Another paroxysm of coughing helped to clear her lungs and she tried to regulate her breathing, calming herself before she attempted to awaken Jack.

The seat belt which held her so tightly in its clutches had to be released. This would also allow her a small range of motion to turn towards her unconscious partner. Her fingers would not stop shaking and it soon became apparent that her whole body was shaking. The urgency of the situation continued to clear her mind. She knew that she needed to revive Jack so that they both could help each other. After several fumbling attempts at the belt, the latch released. She slid farther apart from Jack, landing against the inside frame of the plane and freeing her right arm.

She could now tell that the plane was resting at a steep angle on its left side and that Jack would slide into her if she released his belt. It was best to keep him strapped securely until she could wake him and check for injuries. She turned slightly and was rewarded with a smart jab in her shoulder and a ripple of pain in her abdomen.

Sam looked at her injured arm and tried to locate where the bleeding was coming from. She used her freed arm to reach carefully across her chest and gently probe for injuries. Her fingers soon found the wound. It seemed to be a cut of some kind on the back of her upper arm. The warm moist blood was oozing slowly between her fingertips and, oddly, this managed to calm her. There did not seem to be any damage to a major blood vessel. It appeared to be a flesh wound only. There would be time to attend to it later.

Her prime concern was Jack. He had not moved nor made any more sounds and his head was hanging awkwardly. Once again, she turned carefully, tempered her own pain and reached up to un-strap his helmet and goggles. His passive face felt clammy and cool. She had to force herself to steady her shaking fingers as she slowly removed his headgear and took a better look.

"Oh, Jack." She shuddered and tears burned her eyes as she looked at his bruised face. There was a large gash across the bridge of his nose and a dark welt already forming under his right eye. His hair was matted with blood and she followed its trail to the back of his head where she felt a large bump.

She had to wake him.

She tenderly took his bloodstained face in her hands and repeatedly called his name. He seemed to stir but then did not respond. She began tapping him lightly and calling his name once again.

"Don't you dare leave me!" The words came racing out amidst tears of frustration, words that had been said before when she felt she was losing the man she loved.

This time he heard her. His eyes flickered open, at first confused and unfocused.

She choked back a sob.

She was inches away from his face. She willed him to look into her eyes and find there his point of return … to the land of the living, to her. If there was anything she could give him, she could give him that. She was not about to let their first chance at a life together slip away.

Jack was floating; the billowy clouds parted to let him through. It was all so effortless. He was lost in the clouds but could not stay because someone kept distracting him, speaking to him from far below. He wanted the voice to go away; its persistence had no place in such a peaceful sky. He caught glimpses of others floating past but they did not bother him. The voice, however, would not let him alone.

A woman's voice. Desperate. Pleading. Asking him not to leave her.

He knew that voice and he sensed the urgency beneath its tone. Painfully, he opened his eyes trying hard to put a face to the voice. As his vision cleared, he realized that he was looking into the troubled eyes of Sam Carter. There was an intensity to her gaze that alarmed him.

Why did she think he would leave her?

He wanted to reach out, comfort her, but felt constrained. His head throbbed. He saw tears in her eyes and understood that she was crying for him.

"Carter, don't cry" he managed to croak before passing out again.