Green Desert - Chapter 6.6.3 - Séara

Míkoízo shook his head dumbly. “I didn’t. . .”

I swung my feet through the sideways door and perched there, pointing my finger at the pilot. “You killed her! Why didn’t you tell me she was back here?”

I dropped down onto the side wall of the helicopter. In the darkness, I misjudged the landing and fell forwards. I threw my hands out to catch myself and one landed on sand and the other on something soft and warm.

The pilot sputtered. “We can still save Sharıgo. Please, let’s go back out.”

I pushed myself up and looked at where I’d landed. A body. Another deputy. But his head. . . His head wasn’t there. Just the top edge of the open doorway dug down into the sand, pinning his neck, crushing his skull.

Bile climbed up my throat and I let it come, pushing the vomit out of my gut, onto the sand, onto the helicopter wall under my knees. All my tension, guilt, everything––I purged it all, retching again and again and letting it all go.

At last I was empty. Eyes closed, I sank back on my heels, wiped my sleeve across my mouth and chin.

Míkoízo gently placed a hand on my shoulder, gave a comforting squeeze.

But I was fine. My brain floated in clouds, my whole body insubstantial.

“We’re back here,” the pilot called.