Cherries Jubilee

......They were plummeting through the air, at an incredible speed. Haley and Chase were terrified when they learned the dreadful news of their dire situation. It was pitch black and they could only hold on to each other in a death-defying grip. They were still on the bed and some how Chase had managed to pull the safety belt across them and buckle it tightly. There was chaos in the interior of the aircraft with black smoke filling the cabin and stinging their eyes. Suddenly, in an indescribable maneuver, the left wing abruptly dropped to 90 degrees of bank. The aircraft flipped inverted, making one or two turns horizontally, then appeared to cartwheel tail over nose. The impact was imminent. They could feel the collision as time stood still in the expectation of what was to come. Suddenly, they could sense the rush of the trees as the plane made contact with the tops of the foliage. Miraculously, the thickness of the tropical forest served as a net to catch the spiraling aircraft. It was a jungle so dense and impenetrable it seemed to gradually squeeze the light from the minds of the men within their souls. The wings shuddered from side to side before ripping from the frame. As the aircraft hurtled through the trees like a surgeon slicing through flesh with his scalpel, Haley and Chase could hear the scraping of metal against wood, the sounds of ripping and tearing metal and steel. A terrifying screeching noise raged right beside them and abruptly, they could feel the night air all around them. “Oh, God, oh, God”, Haley screamed. The plane collided with the ground, the fuselage-nose section first. A turbofan engine cowling lay on its side and the starboard wing assembly was in pieces on the ground. The other wing was gone entirely. Then as if in slow motion, the tail of the airplane pointed upwards to the sky. The tail plane fairings were scattered across the terrain along with other bits of wreckage. The aircraft wobbled and fell over, the top of the plane scraping the ground. There was very little left of the fuselage tail section. Inside the plane, Haley and Chase were held tightly by their safety belt. The weight of their bodies fell against the strap, making it practically impossible to unclasp the safety strap. They could barely breathe due to the thick smoke, yet Chase knew that he had to free them somehow. He managed to reach into the mangled drawer beside the bed, pulled out a pocketknife and began to saw on the band that restrained them. The belt unexpectedly snapped and they somersaulted to the floor, which was actually the roof of the aircraft. In the fall, Chase hit his head on the way down and with a guttural scream drifted off into unconsciousness. Haley was falling immediately behind him, but also struck an object that caused her to black out briefly, then she drifted into an exhausted sleep. The first blush of morning streamed into the interior of what was left of the aircraft. Haley was the first to stir. As she tried to regain consciousness, she began to cough spasmodically. Smoke was everywhere. As she became cognizant, she jolted up right. Her eyes searched frantically for Chase. He was slumped against the wall in a pool of blood. She called his name. “Chase, Chase, please wake up. We have to get out of this airplane. It could explode.” Chase didn't move. She had to get him out of the airplane because it was in danger of blowing up. She whispered a prayer, “Dear God, please give me strength.” Chase was extremely heavy with his dead weight and Haley could barely move him, but inch by inch she drug him toward what was left of the door of the plane. She was fighting for every ravaged, belabored breath that ripped through her body. As Haley edged Chase closer to the door opening she could see that the hull of the airplane had been severed from the cabin when the plane impacted the ground. A gaping hole was left where the door had been and the massive aft main exit had been ripped from its hinges. Chase didn't make a sound as she drug him toward what used to be the door. “Come on, baby,” Haley crooned. In a jolt of memory, Haley's thoughts raced to the pilots. Where were they? As Haley pulled Chase into the access area of the plane she looked into the cockpit. She grabbed the door frame for support as she began to comprehend the horrible sight before her. Captain Jim was slumped over the controls in a pool of blood and he was obviously dead. His co-pilot was also dead, his head twisted at a grotesque angle. Haley gasped at the realization that she and Chase were the only living souls on board. For that matter, Chase might be dead, as well. God, what was she going to do?......