Midnight Jungle Flights

"OK... cut!" Captain Reynolds barked as he looked down at the clearing. Jack pulled back on the throttle at his command.

Suddenly the airplane shook violently, vibrating in a pulsating sort of way. The sound of a bad bearing was whining at a high pitch as the propeller spun in the slipstream. He reached over to switch off a circuit breaker. As he leaned down to cut off the fuel, thick choking black smoke shot out hitting him in the face. It came from previously unseen cracks in the firewall. The pungent smoke smelled of burnt oil. His nose began to drain, and his eyes watered badly.

"I think the engine's on fire! We’ve lost our oil pressure!" Jack announced to the crew, while he popped out electrical breakers. They were all well awake now. Captain Reynolds held onto the wing strut as the plane pitched and rocked. His helmet hit the doorframe.

He stuck his head back inside the aircraft. In the propwash outside the door, he had not heard the prior warning.

Jack gasped, trying to breathe in the confusion. The control yoke was nearly impossible to hold onto. He gripped it with both hands. His altitude was disappearing quickly. The turbulence from the thermals hit the plane hard.

Several rivets popped out of the dash, hitting Dave Heartfield's parachute before ending up on the floor. He covered his face with a bandanna, watching as best that he could to see what the more experienced men did next. The smoke burned his eyes. He coughed up black spit into the bandanna as he tried to breathe.

Jack turned to the leader of the jumpers, who was still in the doorway.

"The engine’s on fire! It's disintegrating! I don't think it will hold together for long."

He spoke quickly as the vibrations changed pitch. He reached over and opened the pilot’s side window. Little good it did, the smoke was gagging them all. The plane was losing altitude quickly. The heat, rising from the wildfire, gave them a bumpy ride as they descended.

Fred Lakis was frantically scrambling to get to the door where the only fresh air was. Capt. Reynolds climbed back into the craft motioning for the other men to jump out. The smoke was boiling out of the open door and the engine cowling.

"Bail out, try to make it to the clearing on the right!" He coughed, holding on with one hand and wiping his face with the other.

He stayed behind, crouched down next to the pilot's seat. The other men wasted no time. They bailed out like rats from a sinking ship, scrambling to get to the fresh air. . .

***

. . . In an instant the large jaws of the shark appeared out of the gloom. Jack could see the multiple rows of razor sharp white teeth, all in a jagged fashion one behind the other in its gaping mouth. His eyes were wide as saucers. The white teeth almost seemed to glow in the dark, reflecting the dim moonlight, contrasting with the dark water.

With lethal speed, the shark’s enormous jaws gaped open, engulfing Sammy's legs all the way up to his waist, causing him to cry out as the teeth sank into his flesh. In a split second, the shark released its bite, only to choke down another one even higher up on his body. Blood shot out of Sammy’s mouth and nose, hitting the side of the boat. Jack still had a hold of his arm.

Jerking its head sideways the shark pulled back violently on Sammy’s stunned body, pulling Jack into the water as well. The shark, with its prey still in its mouth, disappeared beneath the boat.

Adrenaline pumped into Jack's veins as the foam curled up all around the boat. The water bubbled around Jack as the air that had been trapped in Sammy's lungs and hollow organs reached the surface. His legs searched for something to stand on, knowing that the bottom was several hundred feet below him. He swam for his life.

Jack shot out of the water with blinding speed, hardly needing the help of Santos to get back in the waterlogged boat. He was breathing so hard and so furiously that his chest hurt. His pulse was pounding. The blood shot up through the arteries in his neck with such force that it felt as if a hammer was pounding the top of his head. He turned to look out at the water, which had an eerie silence now. He hung his head in despair for a moment. His frantic breathing didn't slow for several minutes. . .