Unstoppable: Breakaway Part 17

"I'm trying!" She found a lever on the floor to her left. She hadn't tried that one yet. She yanked on it, praying it would do something good.

The chopper rose. It lifted over the volcano. Amy looked down into the dark abyss at the top and thought she saw a puff of smoke.

The pilot escaped from Jake's hold and threw his upper body into the c.o.c.kpit, trying to knock her hand away from the controls. "Get him out of here!" she shouted.

Jake, Dan, and Atticus dragged the pilot back to the second row of seats. The chopper dropped fast, down toward a green valley. "Pull up! Up!" Jake shouted.

"I know!" Amy yanked on the lever again with all her might. The chopper rose up toward the sky, pulling out of the valley and almost shaving off the top of a hill. It wobbled. She straightened out and the chopper steadied, but then it started spinning, circling around in the air. Amy frantically tugged at the control stick again, and the chopper nosed forward.

The boys struggled to subdue the pilot, but he wasn't going down without a fight. He managed to unlatch the pa.s.senger door. Amy felt the change in pressure. She looked back to see what was happening, and the chopper swerved a deep left. Everyone tumbled over to that side.

"Amy, watch it!" Dan shouted.

Amy concentrated on keeping the chopper steady. The pilot had grabbed Atticus by the arms as a kind of hostage.

"Let him go!" Jake yelled.

Amy didn't dare turn away from the controls - one slip and the chopper would crash, or tip and knock Atticus out. Behind her she heard thumping, grunting, and shouting. But when Jake cried out desperately, "No! No!" she had to turn to see what was happening.

The pilot was leaning out of the helicopter with Atticus clutched in one arm. He was going to jump and take Atticus with him. But the pilot had a parachute, and Atticus didn't.

Dan threw all his weight on one of the pilot's legs, and Jake tugged on his arm, trying to reel him back into the chopper. Suddenly, the pilot screamed.

Amy turned her attention to the front of the chopper. She was about to fly straight into a cliff. She pulled the cyclic up and the chopper rose over the cliff, nearly sc.r.a.ping off its landing skids. Sweat broke out on her forehead. It dripped into her eyes, but she didn't dare release the controls to wipe it away.

"We'll handle this, Amy!" Jake yelled. "Just fly this thing!"

Amy concentrated on the control panel and tried not to look back to see what was happening behind her. But it was hard. The sounds coming from the backseat - grunts, groans of pain, heavy thuds - terrified her. She couldn't see, but she felt each thud like a punch in the stomach.

Dan felt every muscle in his body exert itself, from his straining eyeb.a.l.l.s to the toes that curled around the leg of a seat. The pilot hung out the cabin door, bent at the waist, head dangling, still clutching Atticus. Jake was tugging on the pilot's legs and Dan held Att's feet, bracing his legs against a seat. Atticus's eyes were huge with terror as he strained to grab Dan's hand. He was panting, his breath fast and shallow like a terrified rabbit's.

The pilot gave Jake a mighty kick in the chin, knocking him backward. "Ugh!" Jake's grip loosened, and the pilot tumbled out the door.

"Att!" Dan screamed. Atticus's little body seemed to float out into the air over the jungle below. Dan clutched Att's foot, but his sneaker slipped off in his hand. Jake lunged for his brother and caught him by the torso. With a huge effort he heaved his body back into the cabin, Atticus in his arms. They collapsed on the floor.

Dan looked down just before yanking the cabin door shut. The pilot's chute opened as he floated into the jungle and disappeared among the treetops.

Copyright 2014 by Scholastic Inc.

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