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The Mountain Between Us [Semper Fi x Mature Male Writer]

Semper Fi

Supernova
Joined
Aug 22, 2012
Location
USA
"You have got to be joking," US Marshal Katherine Doyle stared at the woman behind the counter at the airport. "I'm sorry Ma'am, with the impending storm, all major flights are cancelled." Kat's pale grey eyes narrowed, there was no way in hell she wanted to spend another night here, in nowhere Alaska. Turning on her heel, the 5'6" athletic and petite Marshal snarled under her breath and stalked off, Kat herself was in plain clothes, tactical boots, jeans, a black long sleeve shirt and a well loved, very battered leather jacket thrown over it, the jacket concealed the handgun on her left hip. Her mahogany hair was tied back in a snug ponytail, not a strand out of place. A duffel bag was in her left hand, as she stalked through the terminal.

Her eyes caught a pamphlet for Blue Skies Charter Planes. Coming to a halt she read the pamphlet quickly and decided it was her best option, some guy named Bud, and his admittedly tiny little plane, if the photos were accurate. A quick phone call and Bud said flying to Chicago was no problem at all, he had another passenger who wanted to head in that general direction too, so they could ride together. Relief had Kat sighing, Following the directions given she ended up in a small hanger, Kat quirked a brow as she eyed the ancient looking plane. "Fantastic," She muttered, her soft Irish accent getting a little strong as things got more irritating.

"Let's get a move on, we want to be in the air before this storm rolls in!" Bud called as he came out of the office. Striding over, Kat eyed Bud. "You've got experience with this, right?" The older, heavier set man laughed. " 'Course I do! Spent all my military career flying planes for the Air Force." Kat nodded, being retired Army, that was good enough for her. She wasn’t even suppose to have been in Alaska, but at the last minute her partner’s wife went into labor, so Kat told Hunter to stay behind, she’d go to the seminar and talk about being a rapid response team. Settling into her seat Kat took a stiff breath, she hated flying in the best of conditions, and this, this certainly wasn't the best of conditions. She heard Bud talking to another person, probably whoever was joining them on this hellish flight out of Alaska.
 
Ray Golden was talking to Bud and someone on his phone speaking emphatically with a most definite southern accent, "Yes, I will be in Seattle tomorrow and on that boat." The tall man of about 50 dressed in a watch cap, Barbour jacket over a poly fleece one , with pressed khaki 511 trousers and a new looking pair of Maine Hunting Shoes. He would put the phone away and say, "Come on Bud, I got another fishing boat to be on. " He would settle in next to Kat and remove the watch cap and say in a friendly professional tone, "Hi, I'm Ray with Sea King Seafood." He would look at Casio G-Shock and begin to do calculations in his head. He had glanced at Kat, but paid little mind to her because she looked liked so many of the Federal officers he was used to seeing from FLETC. After a few minutes he would finally ask, "Who are you with?"
 
Kat glanced over at the man, Ray, as he sat down. “Katherine Doyle,” she introduced herself. Locking her jaw as the plane began to move. Despite how long she spent on planes, she hatedTilting her head as he asked who she was with, her pale grey eyes observed him briefly. “United States Marshals,” She said finally. She relaxed a bit as they got fully up in the air. Until she heard Bud shout back. “It’s gonna be a bumpy ride for a little while!” Kat sighed. “Of course it is,” she muttered.
 
Ray nodded and smiled before saying, "Then you either love or hate my hometown. I am from Brunswick , Georgia where you , unless you are special, would have been trained at FLETC (Federal Law Enforcement Training Center ) Ray would get a little white knuckled and finally say, "I fly enough, but this is rough." Things finally smoothed out and Ray asked, "Is Alaska your district or did you come up for work ? Me , I got a new boss in a merger who wanted to go see where or raw product is being caught. To be honest, I think he wants me to quit."
 
She chuckles, “Yeah, yeah I trained there. Probably love the town more than I hate it,” gritting her teeth through the rough patch. She shook her head “If you want to get technical, we’re based out of Louisiana, but most often we call Chicago home. I came up for a Marshal Seminar.” She mused, “I’m part of a special operations group. The marshals up here want to incorporate some of what we do, since they are so isolated up here.” She explained as the plane jostled and jerked.
 
"If you are from Louisiana you felt right at home with our bugs and heat.", Ray said with a chuckle and the little plane bouncing. He would yell up at Bud, "Can't you find some better air?" "I have been on a crab boat for a week and I am ready for things to stop moving. Are you one who talks shop to keep your mind off times like this?", Ray asked as the plane kept bouncing.
 
She chuckles, “I’m a bit of a chronic transplant. I was born and raised in Montana, did a stint in the Army before going to Georgia for the Marshals, then Louisiana, bounced around a bit more before landing in Illinois,” she shrugged then. “I hate flying, and nothing helps with that.” She could talk or be silent, none of it made a difference. Pretty soon the wind was howling outside and the plane was rattling. Next thing Kat knew alarms were going off in the cockpit and Bud swearing. Some more jostling of the plane and she heard Bud shout. “Hang on! We’re making an emergency landing!” Kat’s eyes went wide, where in the fuck were they going to make an emergency landing?
 
Ray turned white, fumbled to find his seat belt strap and pull it tighter and got ready to die, or so he thought. Bud dropped the plane into a river valley with a twisting frozen river in sight and then the wheels up touch down and skidding . . . . Ray would wake up very much alive, a bit sore, but alive. He began to take inventory. He chuckled because he would not be doing that any time soon , counting crates of raw seafood. He would finally begin to check and wonder was the plane on fire and what about Bud and Kate ? He was great in the swamp, but spring time in Alaska , snow balls in hell stood better chances than a boy from Georgia.
 
The plane jostled towards the ground, and later Kat would say they survived because of Bud’s excellent piloting skills. But even so, it was hard to maintain control of the plane, the wheels touched down, soon got bogged down by thick snow, causing the plane to skid sideways before eventually rolling over. Kat’s head banged on the wall of the plane, causing her to loose consciousness. When she came to, everything was eerily silent. Her head was throbbing and a piece of metal shrapnel from the plane was imbedded in her left thigh. Groaning, she turned her head slowly, looking around.
 
Ray finally had enough control of himself to look over at Kat and ask, "You OK ", and then at Bud slumped over the yoke with blood dripping from his scalp, nose and ears. If he was not dead, he would be soon or so Ray thought as he called out, "Bud!"
 
She nods, “Yeah yeah I’m alright. Concussion and puncture wound to the upper thigh. You?” She I did her seatbelt as she took stock on her body, realizing she was in better shape that she thought. No one answered when Ray shouted for Bud and when Kat looked up to where he was, it was clear he was dead or nearly so.
 
"I guess we better get out.", Rat said in a dazed voice and went on, "Now the fun of dropping down to the ceiling.", he said before bracing himself with one hand and opening the seat belt latch with the other. He would tumble to the ceiling of the upside down plane and fumbled to his knees in the inverted cabin. He moved in front of Kat and said, "OK, hands on the ceiling and I am going unbuckle you unless you know a better way?" Boat and canoes he knew about , but getting out of an upside down plane was another.
 
Kat shook her head, “No. best way I’ve got. Because of my leg, I’ve got shrapnel in it. She braced her hands on the ceiling. Once she heard the click of her buckle and felt her weight free she let herself down as slowly as possible, but still tumbled somewhat. Pain fired through her leg “Fuck.” She remained sitting on the ceiling. “Can you find the first aid kit? I’m gonna need help patching my leg.”
 
"Here comes our fun, that door jammed, you got a baton ?", Ray asked as he began to look for something else to break out the glass. He would give the glass a kick with the flat of his shoe hoping it might break.
 
She shakes her head, “No baton, but if you can find my duffel bag, I’ve got a folded knife in there, there’s a window breaker on the end of the handle.” She said as she examined her leg. A considerable amount of blood, but not super fast, it wasn’t life threatening, but she couldn’t risk walking on it, until the metal was out and she knew she hadn’t done any major damage.
 
Ray began going through the bags that now sat on the ceiling with them and hoped she was a gear freak like he was. He found her gear bag and soon the glass was broken out. He slide out trying not to get any cuts. Once out he kneel and said as he cleared glass shards from the frame, "I better pull you out head first." He would glance around searching for fire or fuel leak.
 
He would find her gear bag was in perfect order, everything easily seen and found, and accidentally she was fairly well equipped for survival. Not great, but she had some useful things in there. Her personal duffel bag was next to her gear bag and was in fact in the same perfect order. Nodding she sighed, “Yeah, I don’t want this leg jostled much until we get the shrapnel out and see what’s going on. I’ve got a small first aid kit in my bag, but I’m such Bud has a better one in here some where.
 
Once he had Kat out and away from the plane, just in case it blew, Ray went back and pulled out their luggage, and the required first aid kit, a tool bag and a tarp. He laid the first aid gear out including his own. "Can you, do you want to take care of this yourself , or want my help?", Ray asked because there was just something about women in law enforcement that tended to make him cautious.
 
Gritting her teeth she helped him how she could, to get herself out of the plane. Shit it was cold. Once she was settled she watched him go get their stuff. “Some help would be good,” she said as she started going through the kit, getting the items they’d need. “You ever patch a wound before?” She asked. Her left hand looked slightly mangled, fingers crooked as if they’d been broken years ago and healed wrong. “Depending on the wound I might need some stitches,” and that was something she certainly shouldn’t do on her own.
 
"Yea, you work on a shrimp boat and you learn how to do all kinds of stuff.", he said opening his Swiss Army knife to cut her trouser leg so they could see what they had. He took out the on field bandage he had and opened ready to press it on when the metal came out. He had gloves , but was going trust Kat was safe. He handed her the bandage , which was made for the US military, and grabbed the piece of metal with pliers from the tool bag. Moments later it was out and the bandage in place. He checked his watch, how long had it been and how much light did they have?
 
She nods, “Good,” she got prepared and tried to stay relaxed. The metal came out and pain burst through her “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” she snarled, but she didn’t move a muscle. Then he was applying pressure. After a little while, she examined the wound, the bleeding had slowed. “Definitely gonna need a couple stitches. But it doesn’t look like anything major was hit,” she said as she opened up the rubbing alcohol. “Shit this is gonna hurt,” the wound needed to be sanitized and this was all they had.
 
"Don't be taking the bandage off.", Ray snarled a bit before saying , "I have a big tube of antibiotic ointment.", and reaching into his bag. He handed it to her and began to examine the scene. They needed shelter and a fire. Where they sat under a spruce would work for tonight, maybe tomorrow they could make better use of the plane. He pulled out a red back rescue blanket and told Kat, "Wrap up in this and check our bags while I find wood for a shelter and fire. And, think about your feelings about sleeping with a man you just meet ." The last line to lighten the moments and remind Kat buddy sleeping would be needed in this cold.
 
While he started getting stuff for a fire, Kat gave herself a couple of stitches and wrapped her wound up. Snuggling into the rescue blanket she did as instructed, checking their bags. Clothing of course, she found a small box of matches, and she had a couple of books to rip the pages out and use for kindling. Snickering at his comment about sleeping together. They’d have to do it to survive, and while neither would likely be super comfortable with the idea, they’d do what was needed to survive.
 
Ray had seen an ax in the plane but not pulled it out the first time around. He went back and got it , soon he would return with a variety of wood for a fire . He cleared a spot or tried too, but the snow was deep so he began build a raised frame and would worry about something different later. He laid the fire and using a fuel tab from his kit he soon had a fire going. Next he took down a couple small Spruces and used them as frame from a limb of the trunk where Kat sat. He would bring in more Spruce and Fir both for roofing and floor . Using the tarp for most of the roof they soon had a basic shelter. "Better ?", he asked when done and asked, "You got a pot to melt snow in ?"
 
She nods, “Yeah, much better.” They now had a wind break and a little protection from the cold. “Yeah right here, Bud must have had it on the plane,” she wasn’t surprised that Bud had a decent amount of survival gear on the plane, this was always a risk with flying. From her spot she was able to fill the pot with snow and got it by the fire to melt. “He also had a few MREs. So we’ve got food for a few days,” sighing softly, “I bet that storm knocked us way off our flight path. My team knew I was taking a small plane home. They’ll come looking. But I think they’re gonna be looking in the wrong places,”
 
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