Free The 1000 Souls (Book 2): Generation Apocalypse by Michael Andre McPherson Page A

the highway, but a sharp twist on the yoke banked them north. It proved too sudden a maneuver for the left wing, which tore away from the craft but not off. The plane rolled sharply to Milan’s side as they lost lift, and the left wheel hit the ground first and hard.
    Pink granite and green spruce spun by so fast that they meshed into a blur. Tevy fought to maintain some sense of direction, holding onto the side of the plane and the roof as if he could stop them from crushing in as the plane flipped and turned and smashed. Sky, asphalt, shattering glass, more sky and asphalt that didn’t flip from view. The plane came to a stop with a screech of metal.
    Tevy stopped screaming, and took several choking breaths of smoke and fumes, relishing in the fact that, even though he was upside down and hanging from his seat belt, he was alive. But the shadows warned that the sun hung low, and he had no idea how far it was to St. John’s Keep.
    They were down in the wilderness at sunset—a wilderness full of recently displaced and starving rippers.

Five - What Comes Out at Night
    Tevy succeeded in releasing his seat belt and dropping onto the crumpled ceiling, twisting so that he could kick out the remains of the windshield for an exit. It would be impossible to open the crushed passenger door.
    “Good idea,” Milan said, also hanging upside down. His sunglasses were gone and his face was bloody. “Quick! Please, help me out of here. I smell gas.”
    Tevy twisted around and fought to release Milan’s seat belt, but the buckle was jammed. He got his switchblade from his back pocket and flicked it open, sawing through the tough material of the belt near the seat. Milan dropped heavily to the roof with a cry. “My ribs! Fuck! Let us get out of here.”
    Milan twisted around and crawled along the roof and through opening left after Tevy had kicked out the windshield. Tevy followed, smoke stinging his eyes and gas dripping on him from the engine housing. He wanted to lurch up and run once he was clear of the plane, but Milan was having trouble getting out, so Tevy repressed the desire to escape and turned to help. Milan crawled on his forearms, his left leg dragging, and for a moment Tevy thought it was caught in the wreckage until he realized that it was injured. He reached back under the engine housing and took Milan’s hands, standing to drag him clear of the plane. Milan tried to get up, but when his left ankle took weight he gasped and would have fallen but for his left arm around Tevy’s shoulders. Together, they staggered away from the plane, Milan hopping on his right foot.
    When Tevy stopped and sat heavily on the asphalt, Milan turned to look back at the crumpled little plane. He held his side and looked pale with shock. “You feeling lucky, young man?”
    “Dude, I’m still alive, ain’t I.”
    “There are four boxes of fifty-cal ammunition in the back of that plane, and another of 5.56 NATO rounds. It’s worth very much to me and the good people of St. John’s. Would you wish to make some friends very fast?” He turned to look Tevy in the eye. “Climb back in there quick and get it out. It is in the cargo compartment.”
    Tevy had to guess whether Milan was joking or not. Go back in the plane? “Don’t those things blow up?”
    “Not like in the movies. It may catch fire any second now though. Go! Quick!”
    Tevy went, crawling over the asphalt and broken glass, ignoring the pain from cuts to his hands and knees, holding his breath as he got close to the wreckage. With the plane upside down, it was actually easier to squeeze under the seats and get into the back, and sure enough, when he wrenched open the cargo compartment, he found five military-grade metal boxes with convenient handles. He grabbed two of them and hauled them along as he backed out of the plane. He dragged them over near Milan.
    “Dude, these are heavy.”
    “Go! Go! Very quick!”
    Tevy obeyed the imperative, crawling frantically back