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The Last Flight
“We’ll try.. “ that’s what Mathieu managed to whisper before he passed out again. Laura and Horst looked at each other in worry.
“This is not going to work, will it?” Horst said, to which Laura responded with a concerned look “I don’t know.”
Zara entered the operation theatre again, keeping Dominik right behind to shield the boy from all this ‘view’.
“Are we ready to go?” she asked and looked at the unconscious pilot.
“He’s not gonna make it, will he?” the boy behind her asked.
“I don’t… “ Laura began speaking but Zara turned around quickly to shield the boy’s ears.
“He will be okay, my love. Don’t worry. We need to go now though.” she said and pushed Dominik gently out of the room.
Laura and Horst looked at each other, shaking their heads slowly. The nurse turned to the pilot again, he did not show any signs of waking up soon. The persistent high numbers of his heart rate on the screen concerned her.
“It’s not going down. We have to move him now, we’ve got to go.” Horst mumbled, detaching the pilot from the machine. Laura felt like her insides were frozen, she didn’t know what was going to happen. Did she get everything of the infected tissue removed, was the bad condition of Mathieu her fault due to her poor surgical skills?
emoved
“Laura!” Horst said loudly and more firmly. “We really need to go. I’d rather have him die with us on the plane than leave him here all alone waiting to be fried by the sun rays.”
“You’re right.” Laura said, removing the oxygen mask. She instantly noticed that Mathius' breathing became more strained.
Horst noticed that too and looked around.
“Laura, please go ahead, I’ll come right after.” he said and started pushing the stretcher out of the operation theater.
“Wait what? What are you doing?” the black woman asked confusedly and refused to move.
“Trust me. I’ll be right back and join you in the lobby. Go!” the scientist instructed, Laura had no choice but to trust him. She knew that she had to take responsibility for saving Mathieu and inevitably their lives. Sylvie had been really clear by saying that she has no experience nor idea how to get the plane back airborne. The nurse knew that everyone in their group was counting on her now.
She pushed Mathieu towards the large elevator and pushed the button to go down to ground level, where they parked their vehicle at the front door.
In her head, he went through all the meds she’d tasked Zara to gather, hoping the Russian woman was able to get everything they needed. As the elevator descended, she gently put her hand on the pilots chest, feeling him breathing so rapidly and shallowly made her stomach clench. Even though she was certain that she’d removed all of the infected tissue, the sepsis was now raging through Mathieu's blood stream. They had to rely on antibiotics now, and hoped that he would make it through. Laura’s hand moved up to his neck to feel for his pulse, his heart was racing so fast that she was able to see the vein pulsating underneath his skin.
“130 bpm still, damnit” she thought, praying the pilot’s vitals won’t crash entirely.
The elevator arrived and the doop opened.
“Laura, here!” she heard Zara calling her. She had moved the car right to the door, parking backwards so they could load Mathieu on the vehicle more easily. She also saw that the Russian Mother had gathered some pillows and blankets along with a full bag of meds and supplies.
The nurse picked up pace, worried, she looked back at the now closed elevator door.
“Where’s Horst?” Zara asked as she helped prepare the pilot to be moved on the cargo hold of the pick-up truck.
“He said, he’s gonna be right back. I don’t know….” the black woman started to explain as the elevator door opened again. It was Horst, carrying a medium sized oxygen tank, tubes and an oxygen mask. He was sweating and out of breath but he smiled at them.
“I figured we would need it, so I dismantled the machine and extracted the tank.” he said, placing the tank on the cargo hold.
Laura then climbed up and helped Zara and Horst gently lift Mathieu onto the hold. She would stay here with him, like she did when they drove here.
The nurse threw a grateful glance at Horst, who smiled at her.
“Okay, got everything? Let’s go!” the scientist said and sprinted to the car’s cockpit behind the steering wheel.
“Got everything!” Dominik reported and they drove off, back to the airport.
Cold air grazed Laura’s skin and made her shiver. The night’s have gotten quite chilly.
And even though she’s got a person that suffered the highest fever she’d ever seen leaning against her, the nurse still froze. The pile of blankets fell into her view, so she leaned over and grabbed one, putting it around the pilot and herself. That felt much better, she thought.
Carefully, she wrapped her arms around Mathieu’s chest to keep him close and warm too. She didn’t want to put any more stress on his body than what’s already been done.
After a 20 minute drive, they arrived at the airport.
Ines, Terenzio, Rik and Osman were already waiting for them.
“Did everything go alright?” Osman asked and glanced at Mathieu who was still unconscious. His brows frowned in worry.
“I did everything I could, he was awake earlier. We will figure something out, where’s Sylvie?” Laura asked as she helped Osman lift the pilot from the cargo hold.
“Jakub has gone looking for her, she went awol after she helped Ines with the food. We don’t know where she’s gone” Osman explained, leaving Laura in shock.
“So that means no one will be able to fly the plane?” Zara chimed in, there was unmistakingly panic in her voice.
“Jakub went to look for her, they'll be back in time for sure.” Rik said, helping the group to carry the pilot on board. For now, they had to put him on a seat row in first class.
“Weren’t you supposed to make him well again? I reckon that he’s a formidable pilot but flying a plane unconscious is just not going to work?” Terenzio remarked and received furious glances from the others. “Why did you bring him back if he’s as useful as a Ragdoll?
“She did everything she could! His condition is worse than expected, thanks to you, you fucking idiot!” Horst snapped and raised his hand. He had helped Laura to set up a makeshift infirmary for the pilot. They needed to get the IV bags attached somewhere and the oxygen tank within reach.
Osman got in between the two.
“Easy, calm down. This is a stressful situation for all of us.”
“If I had not been there, you’d all be dead by now. Remember that.” the Italian soldier moved closer, threateningly.
“Oh yeah? If you hadn’t shot Mathieu, we wouldn’t be stuck here either, probably already on our way to a safe shelter. But no, you had to shoot the only man, who is actually able to operate this aircraft, first.” Laura chimed in and stood before Horst.
“It was an accident.” Terenzio said, dismissively.
“An accident” Ines huffed. “Accident, my ass”
Terenzio threw her a piercing glance but didn’t comment further.
“Okay, all the supplies and food are on board, where’s Ayaz?” Zara reported and looked around. Her eyes scanned for the Turkish man.
“He said that he wanted to look for supplies after we were almost finished at NATO.” The Italian man said, but couldn’t look into her eyes.
“What happened to your face, by the way?” Laura noticed and got up.
“I fell, I almost broke my neck in order to save all of your damn lives again!” he snapped back and walked into the cockpit.
Laura bit her lip, she, actually no one believed one word he said.
“We don’t have time to go and look for him either. Shit, where are Jakub and Sylvie?” Horst said, looking at his watch. Time was running against them.
“Frankly, does it matter? We’ve got no pilot to fly this plane anyway, so…” the nurse mumbled, but Horst instantly hugged her to cut her off.
“We’ll find a way, and if we need another Youtube instruction, so it may be,” he said.
“I- I will try…..” they suddenly heard a faint voice behind them.
“Mathieu, you’re awake!” Horst and Laura cheered and gathered around him. The pilot looked as if he was about to pass out again.
With his eyes closed, he gasped for air. Horst quickly put the oxygen mask over his mouth.
“So, Sylvie has gone somewhere and Jakub is looking for her. We don’t have much time. Do you think that you are able to guide someone through the take off procedure?” the scientist explained, Mathieu nodded weakly.
“Help me inside the cockpit.” he whispered, his voice strained. “I’ll try to do it myself”
“But Mathieu you can’t even walk by yourself, you are dependent on oxygen. Please let someone else fly the plane” Laura said concerned as she watched him pushing himself up in a sitting position. The pilot became dizzy so quickly, that this vision blurred around the edges.
Laura leaned over, trying to prevent him from getting up. She felt his chest heaving under the palm of her hand.
“I need help, lot’s of it. Please help me up” he gasped and removed the oxygen mask. Horst looked at Laura, as if he was waiting for her permission. The nurse knew that they had no other choice.
She nodded and her and Host grabbed Mathieu’s arms and put them around their necks.
They noticed that the pilot had passed out again since he went limp as soon as he was up.
Laura patted him lightly on the chest.
“Hey Mathieu, wake up!” she said, feeling his pulse again. His heart was racing.
“This is not going to work.” Horst said bitterly.
Suddenly, they heard car brakes squeaking outside, then people running up the staircase.
The pilot stirred slightly.
“Is it Sylvie and Jakub?” Mathieu whispered with his eyes closed. He tried to stabilize himself on his feet, but he didn't have the strength to stand on his own.
The helicopter pilot and the mechanic walked in quickly, looking at a bunch of surprised faces.
“I apologize for being late….” Sylvie said and her eyes caught the sight of Laura and Horst, who both were holding the pilot in between them.
“You’re back…” Mathieu whispered and smiled weakly.
“Hey, let’s get out of here. I’ll try my best to take off, you tell me what to do, okay?” Sylvie suggested after she realized that the pilot was in no condition to fly the plane himself. They were lucky if they got him inside the cockpit without him passing out.
“I’ll help you!” Jakub said and after they managed to get Mathieu seated on one of the jump seats, he took place on the left pilot seat next to Sylvie.
Host and Laura stayed with Mathieu, holding him steady so he wouldn't faint and fall from his seat.
“How much fuel do we have?” the Pilot asked, his vision was so blurred that he wasn’t able to read the information from the screen.
“We only had one fuel truck, but it was filled to the brim, we should have about 900 miles in the tanks.” Jakub said and detached the tablet with the map on it and handed it to Mathieu.
“Where are we going anyways, what did you find out?” Sylvie asked Terenzio, who peeked inside the cockpit.
“Bulgaria, there’s a NATO bunker in the district of Stara. Rik has the coordinates.” the Italian soldier said and turned around to call for the Dutch man.
After they had set the coordinates, they moved the plane back on the runway.
“We need lots of luck to get there in one piece. The amount of fuel does not leave us any wiggle room for mistakes” Mathieu said worriedly, Sylvie and Jakub looked at each other. They knew that there would be immense pressure on them, but they knew that the pilot was just pointing out the facts.
“Are we complete, is everyone on board? I remember that I overheard something about Ayaz before I passed out earlier.” Mathieu said and the faces of the other’s darkened.
“He’s not here, he did not make it back.” Sylvie said, biting her lip.
“That’s unfortunate, but we can’t wait any longer.”
After the pilot instructed them how to prepare the plane for take off, Sylvie pushed the throttle to full thrust, but instantly pulled the lever back again.
“What’s wrong?” Laura asked but she saw it herself when she looked at the runway.
A car had pulled into their view, for a second, nothing happened. But then the door opened, and they saw a blood covered Ayaz pulling himself out of the vehicle and collapse on the tarmac.
The next few minutes were mostly a blur to Mathieu again.
Sylvie and Jakub had left their seats and handled the situation with Ayaz. After they managed to get him back on board, the Turkish man nearly collapsed once again. His face, his shirt and hands, everything was covered in his own blood.
A commotion started after they learned what had happened to him.
Suddenly, they heard a faint noise from the cockpit and they stopped arguing immediately.
They looked at Mathieu, who supported himself on the door frame.
“We need to leave. NOW. Whatever needs to be discussed, can be discussed when we are at cruising altitude.” he gasped and let himself fall back on the jump seat.
“Right, you heard what he said. Back to your seats!” Sylvie instructed and she and Jakub returned to the cockpit.
“Now, full thrust.” Mathieu said and felt the invisible force that pushed him into his seat.
“V1, rotate” he instructed her whilst Jakub kept an eye on the engines instruments. Even after they refueled the tanks with non spoiled kerosin, he wanted to make sure that the small amount of leftovers won’t cause any problem.
After they made a safe take off, Mathieu took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Horst noticed that immediately. He was taking care of the captain after Laura went to help with Ayaz’ wounds.
“Are you okay?” Horst asked and pushed his fingers on the pilot's wrist to feel his pulse.
“Not sure…” Mathieu responded, he felt incredibly lightheaded.
“We just reached cruising altitude, maybe you can go and… Mathieu?” Sylvie turned around as the pilot almost slipped from the jump seat. Horst caught him before he fell.
“He definitely needs to rest now. We have about 3 hours until we get to the Airbase in Bulgaria.” Jakub said and got up to help the scientist to carry the pilot out of the cockpit.
“I agree, under normal circumstances, he’d be in the ICU not in an airplane cockpit.” Sylvie said and turned on the auto pilot.
At least Ayaz was awake and doing okay so far, Laura helped him clean his wounds.
When the cockpit door swung open, her eyes widened in fear.
“What happened?” Rik asked curiously and got up from his seat.
“He passed out again, he needs to sleep now. We have about 3 hours, I suggest you all do the same.” Jakub explained and lowered the pilot back on the first seat row, where they had prepared the makeshift infirmary earlier.
“Laura, please. Mathieu needs your help more than I do.” The Turkish man said and took the bandage out of her hand.
After she’d quickly washed the blood from her hands, she’d returned to the pilot.
Jakub was kneeling next to him, keeping both hands on his friend’s shoulders. He was extremely worried.
Laura reconnected the captain to the IV bags, adding some painkillers and antipyretics to battle the fever. She checked his breathing, pulse and blood pressure with the small device they already had on board.
“How’s he doing?” the mechanic asked.
His heart rate has gone down a bit, but his temperature is still at 39,8° Celsius and his blood pressure is quite low again, that’s why he keeps passing out. I hope he’ll be more stable when we arrive in Bulgaria.
Horst brought one of the blankets and settled it over the pilot.
After they had dealt with Terenzio, the first class was pretty silent. Most of them had moved back to Economy to make sure that Mathieu got some rest.
An hour had passed and the pilot was still fast asleep. Laura and Jakub sat on the floor next to him, both in silence and alone with their thoughts.
Horst joined them after he, Sylvie and the others had discussed what they were going to do after they landed in Bulgaria.
“If he doesn’t wake up until then, we’ll have to figure something out.” the scientist said.
“Well, we definitely won’t abandon him here?” the mechanic said, staring at his hands.
“Of course not, I really hope that there are vehicles at the airbase.” Horst said quickly to appease Jakub.
“Right… If there’s no other way, we’ll carry him. But leaving him here, only over my dead body.” the Polish man stated, got up and went to the cockpit to take turns monitoring the instruments and give Sylvie a break.
Horst looked at Laura.
“They’ve been friends for a long time, his reaction is understandable.” she said and shrugged.
“Yeah I got that. Hey Sylvie.” the scientist said and watched the helicopter pilot taking Jakubs place.
“How’s he doing?” she asked.
“Last time I checked he was more stable. We have to wait and see now. He’s on high dosed medication, it’ll take a bit until he’s out of the woods. I hope his condition improves before we land in Bulgaria.” the nurse said.
“Yeah, I still don’t feel comfortable landing this plane by myself.” Sylvie replied.
“But you did great the last time, considering the circumstances.” Horst said with a smile.
The Helicopter pilot rolled her eyes, then put on a softer expression.
“We should have forced him to rest way earlier. He was running on less than fumes. I could bite my ass for not noticing that he was struggling until it was too late.” she said.
“It’s not your fault, even if you had told him to rest, you think that he would have?” Laura said, putting her hand on the other woman’s shoulder.
“Probably not, he’s incredibly stubborn. Considering that we are continuously flying for a week, him piloting the aircraft on less than 10 hours of sleep and a fast progressing sepsis, it’s insane that this hadn’t happened earlier.” the helicopter pilot said.
Laura nodded and looked at the unconscious man, who persistently had flown them across the globe until he was no longer physically able to.
Sylvie then went back to the cockpit to give Jakub a break from monitoring, she told him to sleep for a bit.
Horst stayed with Mathieu until Laura returned from checking on Ayaz. The Turkish man insisted that he was doing okay.
The nurse took a seat beside the pilot and rubbed her eyes tiredly.
They watched the IV fluids dripping into the tube which was taped to his left arm, hoping that this would suffice to save his life. Next time Laura checked on him, she noticed that his breathing became calmer, but still the fever was high.
Horst brought her some towels that were soaked in cold water. The nurse put them across Mathieu’s feverish forehead.
“How’s he doing?” Dominik suddenly occurred behind them from behind the curtain.
“Better, the medicine seems to help.” Laura explained, whilst the young boy looked at the IV bags and tubes with curiosity.
“You’ve probably seen that a lot of times, haven’t you?” Horst asked the boy, who suffered from an incurable illness himself
“Yes, and it always hurts when they stick the needle into my arm. But I’m sure you did it without causing him pain.” Dominik said and looked up to Laura.
She smiled softly.
“I did the best I could. I don’t know if he felt something, he was barely conscious when I did it back at the hospital.” she explained.
The boy smiled, but then was called by his mother.
Horst moved closer to Laura.
“I believe you should take it as a compliment. You are doing a great job” he whispered, grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.
Suddenly, Zara pulled the curtain bag as she was searching for Dominik.
For a second, she looked at them. Her face turned into a some sort of guilty look.
“How is he?” she asked hesitantly.
“Better, thanks for asking.” the nurse said in a cool tone. She did not forget how Zara wanted to abandon him at the hospital over a couple of minutes that they took longer than anticipated.
The Russian woman noticed that.
“Look, I apologize for what I said. I just wanted to make sure that we get back in time. I only realized that we needed him for taking off after I said what I said. Sometimes, the concern about Dominik’s safety does overtake my common sense.” Zara explained, sounding genuinely apologetic.
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it. This new world is so fast paced. Every decision could be our last. It’s only natural that we tend to overreact.” Horst chimed in before Laura was able to answer.
The Russian mother nodded, and smiled slightly. After she’d grabbed her son’s hand, both disappeared behind the curtain again.
After Jakub woke up, he sent Sylvie to go to rest before they landed. The Helicopter pilot left the cockpit and stretched her limbs.
“How long until we land?” Horst asked and looked at her.
“About 1 hour and 15 minutes, so, still some time left.” she said and looked at Mathieu, who was still sleeping. “How’s he doing?”
“Not much change, his breathing’s become less shallow and his heartbeat has slowed down a bit” Laura put her hand on the pilot’s chest as if she was to confirm what she’d just said.” But other than that, no change.”
“At least he’s stable for now.” Sylvie said and yawned loudly.
“God, I hope they have real beds in this bunker. I feel like I need to sleep for at least a week to catch up.” the helicopter pilot said. Since they’d found Mathieu collapsed in the lavatory, she hadn’t had any kind of rest.
“That… makes… us two.” they suddenly heard a faint voice.
Laura almost jumped.
“Hey, you’re awake.” she said and turned around to the captain, who smiled at her weakly.
He nodded.
“You look better. Less pale. I’d grant you a whole month of proper sleep if I could” Sylvie said, smiling widely.
“I do feel better, tired, but better.” Mathieu whispered through the oxygen mask.
Laura removed the oxygen mask for him.
“Thank you, for saving me and not giving up.” the pilot whispered, covered the nurse’s hand which still rested on his chest with his own and gave it a gentle squeeze.
“No problem, we all need you.” she said and smiled.
They helped him lean against the wall this time, he felt a lot stronger and didn’t pass out after a couple of minutes. Laura took his blood pressure again and was happy to see that it was more stable too.
They brought him some water and something to eat.
“You’re gonna need some sustenance.” Sylvie said, reluctantly he grabbed the granola bar from her hand and ate it.
“How are things going in the cockpit? How long until we land?” the pilot asked curiously.
“We are supposed to land in around 40 minutes. So, still some time to rest, I might need your help landing this big bird. Last time, it was quite rough.” the helicopter pilot said and Mathieu chuckled.
“Ah, I’m sure you did great. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here.” he said encouragingly. Sylvie realized how much he missed his positive energy over the last couple of days, he seems to be back to his own self.
The woman smiled at him.
“However this will all end, I am glad that I went on this plane. Otherwise I wouldn’t have met you all” she said, thinking of which initial intentions she had.
She looked down at her feet suddenly.
“I am glad too, I couldn’t be more grateful to have met such a wonderful crew and passengers.” Mathieu said, noticing that something was occupying Sylvie’s mind.
“You know, I had many different plans before I got on this plane…” she started, then she told him her story of how she initially wanted to kill herself.
Mathieu grabbed her hand.
“Listen, what happened is not your fault. You can’t blame yourself for things that are out of your control. I couldn’t have asked for a better Co-Pilot and I wish, if we need to fly again, that you’ll be on my side in the cockpit.”
Sylvie was taken aback and overwhelmed, she felt her eyes tearing up a bit.
“I hope this is gonna be our last flight for a while, but if you need me, I’d be happy to be on your side.” she said and squeezed his hand back.
“Yes, I hope the flying part will be over soon. I’m longing for a real bed and a shower.” the captain said, leaning back against the wall and sighed.
Suddenly, they heard Jakubs voice from the cockpit.
“Guys, I think we need to initiate descent, we’re almost there.”
“Let’s do this, together?” Sylvie got up and extended her arm to help the pilot up.
“Let’s do this.” he replied and took her hand……