Honey : The Empire's Treasure 357 Emergency Treatmen

"Are you guys coming or not!" She called out from the inside. Buckling herself in, she went through the sequence for starting up the engines.

Celaena and Hycis took their seat and buckled themselves in, only Nylian continue to wait outside, not making up his mind once again.

Mika choose to give him three minutes after that she was leaving with or without him.

Right up to when Mika was about to close the hatch, Nylian make up his mind and ran inside to buckle himself into his seat.

She didn't bother to spear a glance his way as she immediately shut the hatch and took off.

As they rose higher into the sky, the smoke and ash from the city created a horrifying winter wonderland in the area. There wasn't one inch of the surrounding space that wasn't cover in white.

With visibility almost gone, Mika had to depend on her radar system to entered the city's atmosphere and to guide them towards the shuttle Ailwin should be taking.

When Nylian saw Mika flying back towards the city instead of to the academy, the scowl on his face began to disappear.

Was she planning on doing this the whole time? Is that why she was rushing us the whole way…

 Feeling shamed wash over him as his earlier his actions and words played in his mind, Nylian lower his head, but not before glancing Mikaela's way.

Studying the signal she was picking up on the radar, Mika slowly led the shuttle cautiously passed the city's walls. She needed to paid close attention, if she doesn't, she could quite possible crash them into a burning building.

Reaching the platform, Kaze, Ailwin and Braeden saw the little shuttle sitting there surrounded by ash and burning rubble. They each wanted to do a spiritual dance to the Gods right then and there, for keeping the shuttle safe.

Kaze rushed ahead and entered the code to open up the hatch, while Ailwin and Braeden followed along at a steady pace.

Once everyone was inside, Kaze help get Braeden seated and buckled in as Ailwin went through the started up sequence.

Looking outside the window at the smoke and ash polluting the sky, Ailwin feared that they would crash before they could never make it out of the city.

Taking a deep breath calming his nerves, the last thing they need for this dire situation of the crumbling structures,spontaneous explosions and lost of visibility, is an anxious pilot.

Despite the problems they might have, they had no other choice but to make do and get the hell out of here.

Choosing to manually operate the shuttle rather than letting the navigation system pilot, Ailwin had to strain himself to get the shuttle into the air.

Apparently, the ash and smoke was making it difficult for the engines to work properly.

Gripping their seatbelts for dear life, Kaze and Braeden prayed Ailwin would able to get the aircraft under control and fly them out of here.

When the shuttle was about a hundred meters off of the platform, the turbulence finally began to smooth out.

However, no matter how far they rose above the ground, Ailwin could only see a few inches in front of him.

He could make out the flashes of orange and yellow flames here and there but for the most part he was guessing his direction; and although he was cautiously moving forward, there were many near crashes into building or unexpected explosions that called for quick maneuvering.

"Hold on, guys. I just can't see past the ash and smoke to the burning buildings." Ailwin veered to left to avoid the falling rubble coming from a crumbling building.

He was wound up so tightly from flying in this mess that when Mika's voice sounded over his radio, it nearly caused him to lose control of the shuttle.

"Ailwin…come in...over."

"Mika?"

"Yeah, it me. I'm almost to your location, but you are going the wrong way. Is your navigation system working correctly?"

Ailwin took a careful look at the monitor and realized the one of the sensors was frozen in place not giving any readings. They were basically fly in circles around the city.

"Ugh! Yes, one of our sensors is down...it might have happened when we were taking off."

"Okay, I'm going to use my shuttle's magnetic suction to attach your shuttle to mine. If you can keep it steady, I will be able to lead you guys out."

"Okay...over."

Keeping the shuttle in one spot long enough for Mika to lock in was more difficult that flying through the explosions and falling buildings.

It took four tries before Mika could get a secure connection to their shuttle.

Breathing out a deep breath and wiping the sweat off her forehead, she slowly started to reel them in towards her aircraft.

When they were close enough that Ailwin could see the bottom of her shuttle clearly, she stopped.

"Okay...now let me do the driving."

"En...I'm putting the shuttle on drift mode" This allowed Mika to have no resistance as she flies both of the shuttles in the right direction.

Elated that it is working, Ailwin left his seat to check on Braeden.

After all those calls he made, the tossing and jerking motions have reopened his wounds. When he reached Braeden's chair, he could see the blood seeping through his shirt and onto the floor.

Searching the aircraft for the emergency kit, he and Kaze tried to patched Braeden up as best as they could with the limited materials on board.

"Hold on, for a little longer." He patted his friend's shoulder before going back to his seat.

Braeden was pale and sweating profusely, we needed to get him treated.

Braeden tried to suck it up and sit through the pain but when Mika need to do a sharp turn, it made his seatbelt bite into his shoulder and midsection. He couldn't stop the yelp that left his mouth.

Chapter end