By some miracle, Derek was finding himself somehow able to stay awake. This fact did not do much to help his current situation, however, as his entire body felt like it was on fire. The old man felt disoriented as he looked behind him at the exit that was still a few meters away, just far enough to make this current hell feel like an eternity. He was determined though, and that was going to have to be enough. With great effort he was able to pull himself through the area of dead-burning bodies, destroyed aircraft materials, and ever thickening smoke. In what felt like an eternity, he finally made it close enough to the exit to feel the sensation of cool open air touch his body. This gave him enough motivation to somehow propel himself out of the doorway and onto the ground below, falling with enough force to knock the air out of his lungs for a few minutes.<br/><br/>For several minutes he laid turned on his side, both trying to catch his breath and coughing up black muck that had caked up inside his lungs, each cough more painful than the last until finally he was able to stabilize his breathing. Looking back at the plane that was burning with no end in sight, he sighed with more grief than relief about making it out while others could still be stuck inside. Sure, it was true that he had been a cold and, at times, a rather despicable man towards others, it was the nature of his work, but he would never wish this sort of horror on someone. The thought that he could not help was hard for him to accept but he knew that it would be suicide for him to try, given his current condition. He swallowed hard before crawling away from the wreckage, moving as far away from it as he can just in case it were to explode or jet fuel were to escape and start spreading the fire faster.<br/><br/>While crawling away, he noticed a rather tall looking woman collapsed onto the ground not too far from him, slipping in and out of consciousness while having a few injuries from the crash. Utilizing all the effort he had, Derek pulled himself towards the young woman, "Hey!" he yelled out as loud as he can in an attempt to keep the lady from falling asleep while reaching out and shaking her non-injured leg, "Hey, lady, you have to stay awake okay?! Come on, don't fall asleep!" His cries were loud enough that they were echoing off the surrounding forest, suggesting that most of the black tar was out of his lungs. Still, he was not sure whether or not the young woman could hear him through the noise of the fire as well as disorientation from the crash. He was finally right beside her and was examining her head, without touching it, to see if she had any head injuries. "If you can hear me, I need you to open your eyes for me, please."