This is the SECOND chapter I am posting today, so for those skipping to the last chapter, I've posted two. Be sure to read the one before this as well and as always, please enjoy.
Derek and Meredith were off getting more firewood when it happened. It was early the next morning, and Cristina had spent the night on her knees posted directly across from a tree, practicing her throwing. She had counted 986 throws, but she had lost count two or three times already, so her true total was unknown. She could no longer throw farther than three feet, so she was planted just far enough from the tree that the rocks wouldn't bounce back and hit her, but that she could also still manage to hit the tree.
She heard a buzzing overhead but didn't even bother to look up. Six times now that she could remember, she had thought she was hearing the exact noise. It would just be cruel for her to look up a seventh time. Suddenly, Arizona bellowed loudly. "CRISTINA, LOOK!"
She looked at Arizona then. "What?"
"Up, you idiot! Look up!" She was pointing frantically at the sky.
Cristina hesitantly tilted her head up to find that a chopper was hovering overhead. "Oh my God!" She jumped to her feet, feeling a burst of energy overwhelm her. She ran directly under the plane and waved her good hand, screaming along with Arizona and Jerry. I accidentally fell asleep. This isn't real, Cristina. It's not real. Just wake the fuck up so that when the really come, you'll be prepared. Her flawed logic, the resultant of trauma, sleep deprivation, and exhaustion, would soon fade as the chopper finally made contact with the ground.
"Ma'am, ma'am, are you okay?" One of the rescuers grabbed her shoulder, but she jerked violently away.
"No, I'm not fucking okay!" She didn't know why she had the instinct to fear this man. "But they're worse. Get them first," she replied pointing toward Arizona, Jerry, and Mark.
He turned to the other men. "On it," one of them said, leading four other men to the wounded trio.
The man turned again to Cristina. "My name is Will Mathis. I'm going to get you out of here," he said, reaching for Cristina again. She jerked again, stumbling backward, and almost falling to the ground. He called something over his walkie talkie, but Cristina could not discern what. "Ma'am, I know you've been through a lot," he said gently, inching his way toward her, "but I need you to trust me."
"There are others," she said, her voice shaking. "Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd."
Will stopped then. "And where are they?"
"They went for firewood. Th-Th-They should be back any minute, er, actually, I don't know that they will be. I don't know how long they've been gone."
Poor lady, Will thought. Probably been gone for days. Maybe even died in the crash. "Okay, we'll find them. Just come with me."
"No, you can't leave them!" Cristina shouted. Will gestured to one of his men positioned behind Cristina. He approached her cautiously, and before she knew it, she was restrained tightly. "No!" she screamed, trying to kick, hit, headbutt, anything she could manage to do to get away. "You can't leave them! You can't-" she gasped for air as the man restrained her wrists to the gurney. "leave them," she cried then. "Meredith!" she screamed, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Derek!"
"Help!" she heard in the distance. Meredith!
Suddenly, they came into view. "See, there they are! There they are!"
Will looked then toward the forest. "I'll be damned," he said. "Go! Go get them on gurneys," he said to his men.
"There they are," Cristina smiled then, relieved that everyone had made it out okay. They were okay. They were all okay…suddenly, her demeanor changed. Her lips turned down and her brain began to fail, it seemed. Her eyesight started to fade into blackness, and her hearing grew dimmer and dimmer by the second. What is happening to me? She wanted to panic; to blink; to speak, but she couldn't. Her body wouldn't let her. What the hell is happening?