Chapter 26



𝕊𝕦𝕣𝕧𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘

Eve's POV (ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕕𝕒𝕪)

I came into consciousness feeling disoriented. Only to discover seconds later that dizziness wasn't my only problem.

I couldn't breathe.

My lungs felt like it has been deprived of air for days. And although I was in severe pain, my brain knew that I had to eventually bear the ache, and breathe if I wanted to survive.

Mentally stilling myself, I slowly parted my lips. But the moment I sucked in air, I went into a coughing fit, a haze of thick smoke almost overwhelming me.

If I didn't act fast, I was going to choke to death.

I tried peeling my eyes open but stopped halfway, my head exploding in pain. It was almost as if a grenade had gone off in it. I decided to abandon the venture and slowly rose from the metal I had been resting on, using my hands as a guide to feel my way around.

Holding your breath while nursing a massive headache with an inability to see wasn't a funny situation. And God knew I needed my sight if I was to survive this.

As I staggered to my feet, I tried lifting my eyelids again. This time, the sharp pain that slammed through my skull was worse than the first.

"Fuck." I groaned low, careful not to make any more sudden sounds or moves that could cause that sickening pain again. Calming myself, I decided to continue my trek towards freedom, towards fresh air, not caring that I had to do it without my eyesight. Just as I made a move towards what I hoped was an exit, someone coughed beside me and I stilled.

"Rita?" I half grunted, half coughed. I had feared everyone was dead. Heavens knew it would be hard for anyone to survive this kind of crash. How I was even alive was still lost on me.

I knew I should continue on my way and save myself, but for some reason, I just couldn't. There was a big possibility that the person I was about to leave behind could be Rita or Jay, and they were family.

I began making my way towards the direction the sound had come from, only to trip on a piece of mental, which sent me flying, face first, to the ground.

Just when I thought I was going to nurse a nasty swelling, a pair of strong arms wrapped themself around me. "It's okay, I've got you." A voice muttered as strong arms pressed me against a rock. Or was it a chest?

I couldn't help but wonder why I couldn't recognise the voice. Why did he sound muffled? I must have probably knocked my head real bad.

I began to turn towards my saviour but was stopped by his voice. "Hold still." He said and began to place a dysfunctional oxygen mask over my nose. The moment my nose became protected, I instinctively took in an enormous amount of air.

"Oh my god," I finally whispered hoarsely, still taking in large gulps of air. I turned towards the figure that saved me. "I can't see you. I can't lift my eyelids-"

"That's because you are bleeding badly. We need to get you out of here."

"Lucas! Hurry up!" Someone yelled from a distance, which kind of sounded like it had come from outside the plane. Hoped soared inside me. This meant I wasn't the only one who survived. Turning to Lucas, whom I just discovered was my saviour, again, I cupped a feel of his arms before grabbing it.

"There's someone alive in here. We need to get to them, we have to save-"

The muscles on Lucas's arm tensed. "I'll handle that. Let's get you out to safety first." He began guiding me out the ruble, his voice serving as a guide as he instructed me to lift here and dodge there. Sweat dripped from my brows to my lips and my tongue swiped up the liquid, tasting the salty solvent.

Why did it feel like the temperature had gone fifty degrees higher?

"Shit!" I heard Lucas curse beside me as he quickened his steps. " We have to move faster Eve, the plane is on fire, which means-"

My breathing spiked. "It's about to explode." No wonder the temperature increased. As we hurried towards the exit my head swiped to the side at the sound of someone groaning.

Was that a crew member? What if that was- "Lucas, please tell me Rita and Jay-" I couldn't complete the words because a loud explosion sent us flying forward and into what felt like hot wet sand. Heat scorched my behind as pieces of metal tore into my flesh.

I could hear shouts, the clashing of something that sounded like waves, and the burning smell of burnt flesh as the plane became engulfed into what I could only guess was a blazing furnace.

My mind began to fizzle out. The hot sand and the cuts on my back not able to keep me conscious. I gave in to the pull, and as I slowly faded into the welcome reprieve of darkness, the last thing I heard was a voice, desperately muttering, "Stay with me, Eve, stay with me."

*****************

I was on fire. No, I was in hell. Real-life, burning hot hell. It was as if hot magma was being pumped into my skull with a wide pipe, and my body set in an oven to cook over time.

My throat felt patched together from lack of hydration, my vision black behind my eyelids, sweat coated my entire body making me feel sticky and hot. As if the fire in my head and the burning on my back wasn't enough.

I parted my dried broken lips in an attempt to get some air into my lungs, then tried peeling my eyes open, slowly, as if my brain somehow remembered the pain it had suffered while trying out this very venture. After what felt like hours of struggle, my eyelids finally opened a fraction, but all I could see were rainbows, and the light that reflected into my orbs were so bright, it bothered on painful.

I lay still for what seemed like forever, needing my eyes to adjust to the brightness. After a minute or so, my eyes finally came into focus and I found myself staring at the blue sky, which was partially covered with leaves. Frowning, I raised my head a little, trying to get a better view of my surroundings. What I could see for miles on end were trees and rocks. It looked like I had suddenly landed in a forest or something.

"It's not a forest. It's an island of some sort." I turned my head towards the voice that had just literally read my mind, the action causing me to wince and I cursed inwardly.

Soft hands were on me in no time, guiding my head back into the pillow. "Relax, you still have a long way to go before making sudden moves. Open." He said, placing a pill on my lips. I let it slide through and swallowed.

I lifted my eyelids again despite the brightness and set my gaze on him.

Lucas smiled back at me. "I thought you'd never wake up."

That brought a crack to my lips. "You thought you could get rid of me that easy?" I couldn't recognize my own voice.

He scoffed. "If there is anything I've learnt from being around you this past few days, it's that you have way more than nine lives. You are like the hardest person to kill on the whole planet. Laura can testify to that."

My heart soared, clearly betraying its owner. Pushing the thought aside I slowly shut my eyes, savouring the little moment of reprieve I got from Lucas words. His very presence had a way of driving me insane and bringing me peace at the same time. If that wasn't madness, then I didn't want to know what was.

I parted my lips in an attempt to speak, only to feel a cool bottle being pressed against my tongue. My words came out muffled, the action giving way for the liquid to sip into my mouth. I couldn't help but moan as the cool liquid touched my throat.

Lord! I had needed that.

I gulped down the liquid eagerly, my lips sucking the bottle for dear life. How come he kept figuring out what I needed even before I did? Lord knows it was annoying as hell.

He lifted the bottle from my lips after I had made sure to sip every last drop of water in it. "Woah... You were tasty."

I peeled my eyes open to look at him again. "You don't have to rub it in." He lifted his eyebrows then smirked at me.

The infuriating bastard. I wish I didn't feel so attracted to him. There, I said it. Maybe I'll just fuck him and get it over with. Maybe then, he would be out of my system and I'll be able to do what needed to be done.

But that would be after I have shredded Laura into a thousand pieces. And I meant that literally.

Lucas dropped the bottle into a duffle bag I hadn't noticed was beside my bamboo bed, and took a sit on a stone beside me. "What the hell happened?" I grunted. God knows I was dying to find out.

"I truly don't know. One minute we were trying to figure out what happened to Damien and the next minute, I woke up in a burning plane, on an empty island. Thank Goodness I found you. I could only rescue a few of us who were still conscious..."

My heart jerked. "A few of us? Did you rescue Rita? Dave? J-Jay?" My voice broke on the last name. That man was like a father to me. I couldn't lose him. I just couldn't.

"Yes, Jay helped rescue Rita, while I rescued the co-pilot and you. Dave didn't make it." My face glazed over in pain. Dave was my most trusted pilot. Losing him meant a lot to me. Although Lucas's face was masked, his eyes looked like his mouth had more to say.

"What is it?" Lucas's eyes flashed at my question, confirming my suspicion. There was more.

I gave him a look that said, don't you dare try me and he sighed heavily in acknowledgement.

After what felt like hours of battling with himself, he finally blurted, "There was one other person we found on the plane."

"Found?" I asked with a frown. What did he mean by found?

"Yeah, we found-"

"Me." Someone said from behind me. I looked over my head and froze.

Could things get more confusing than this?

"Hello, Eve." The figure said, grinning down at me.

"Damien," I muttered.

It was time for me to sit up.