Free Twister by Chris Ryan

beside him. 'You couldn't have done anything, Jack,' he said quietly. 'No one could have predicted what just happened. This isn't down to you.'
     
Jack took a deep breath. He knew that what his boss was saying was right, but somehow that didn't make him feel much better.
     
It was with a heavy heart that he turned his back on the screen, left the control tower and prepared to face the storm himself.
     

Chapter Seven
The plane wobbled dramatically. It felt like a futile gesture, but Ben tugged at the control stick to get them straight.
     
Fifty metres up. The road appeared in the middle of his sights, but it was touch and go.
     
Twenty-five metres. The plane was speeding. Too fast. Far too fast.
     
'Hold on!' Ben shouted. They were about to hit the ground. ' HOLD ON! '
     
It was only as they touched down that Ben realized he hadn't put the landing wheels down – not that he'd have known how to do it even if he'd remembered. The fuselage crunched horribly against the ground. The noise was deafening, and Ben felt a vicious shock as his body jolted fiercely. The plane bounded into the air, spinning 180 degrees as it did so before coming to land again. Ben's hands flew away from the control stick; everything in front of him became nothing but an awful, dizzy blur. It was out of his control now.
     
This is it , he thought to himself. We can't possibly survive a crash like this .
     
As that thought ran through his mind, the plane bounced again. Something flew up to the windscreen: it cracked and shattered. Suddenly the noise doubled before the plane bounced a third time. It was still spinning – any second now, Ben thought, and they would be plunged into the marshland on either side of the road. He closed his eyes, bent over, braced his head in his arms and prepared himself for the worst.
     
The noise continued to thunder in his ears.
     
They were going to die. There was no way they could survive this. They'd be crushed or drowned, or both. It was going to happen.
     
Any moment now. It was going to happen . . .
     
But it didn't.
     
It took a full minute for the aircraft to come to a halt, a full minute for the roaring of the crash landing to stop, replaced by the sound of the high winds howling through the shattered screen. Ben was shaking with fear, his breath coming in short, sharp, desperate bursts. When he dared gradually to look up, his whole body aching from the impact, he couldn't quite believe that he was still alive.
     
He stayed perfectly still, dumbfounded.
     
'You OK, Ben?' a voice croaked from beside him.
     
Ben looked over. Danny's face was drawn and shocked. His nose was bleeding and there was a nasty-looking cut on his forehead. But he looked like he was in one piece. 'Yeah,' Ben replied. 'I think so.' He allowed himself a rueful smile. 'Just as long as they don't make me pay for the damage.'
     
'I think they're more likely to give you a medal, Ben,' Danny said quietly. 'I don't know how you managed that.'
     
Me neither , Ben thought to himself. But for the moment he was happy to accept the praise. 'We should go and see how the others are,' he said. 'I reckon everyone was bumped around pretty hard back there – could be some casualties.'
     
Danny nodded and they both started to unbuckle themselves. Ben had barely stood up, however, before he heard the shouting from the cabin.
     
'I can smell burning!' someone yelled. 'Quickly! Something's on fire! We have to get off the plane before it blows!'
     
 
     
It was the sparks that had caused it. As the plane had bounced and scraped along the ground, showers of them had erupted on the undercarriage. The final bounce had ripped the metal of the fuselage and as the plane came to a halt, the sparks had showered into the hold. It hadn't taken long for the pallets of luggage to ignite, and only moments later, the whole area was billowing with smoke.
     
The temperature was rising rapidly. They had very little time before the fuel stores would explode .