Then—
The debris shifted.
More than before.
“Now!” she shouted.
Lena cried out weakly, yanking her arm free.
The metal slammed back down with a clang.
But it didn’t matter.
She was free.
“Okay,” she panted, collapsing back onto her heels. “Okay… we did it.”
Lena lay there, breathing shallowly, her freed arm cradled against her chest.
“We need to move,” she said, urgency returning. “There’s fire—we have to get out of here.”
She glanced around, searching for an exit.
A gap in the fuselage caught her eye—a jagged opening where the plane had torn apart on impact. Beyond it, she could see—
Green.
Trees.
They were in a forest.
Relief and dread collided in her chest.
Alive.
But nowhere.
“Okay,” she said, turning back to Lena. “I’m going to help you up. It’s going to hurt.”
Lena gave a faint, almost imperceptible nod.
She moved carefully, wrapping Lena’s arm over her shoulders, supporting as much of her weight as she could.
“On three,” she said again. “One… two… three.”
They rose together.
Unsteady.
Broken.
Alive.
Step by step, they began to move toward the light.
